The Elk Valley Men’s U16 curling team has placed fifth and collected two medals in the B.C Winter Games in Quesnel.
Damian Fischer, Brody Kerkhoven, Sam Carson and Max Robinson played fierce games against the province’s top youth curling teams on Feb. 23 and 24 and landed just below a podium finish with an overall team standing of fifth place.
Kerkhoven collected gold and Fischer collected silver in the skills competition.
The boys had a slower start to the tournament with a 10-5 loss against a team from Comox Valley, but made up for it in the second round when they edged ahead of a group from Port Moody and won 9-8.
Their final game brought them head-to-head against a big-city Vancouver team, who proved to be stiff competition. The teams were closely matched, but the Elk Valley boys ultimately lost 10-7, which eliminated them from the playoffs.
“If we could have edged out that extra team, we would have gone to the playoffs,” said coach Dave Endicott.
They tied for fifth place with groups from Langley and Fraser River.
Team Kelowna, Team Comox Valley, Team Vancouver and Team Prince George finished at the top, in first, second, third, and fourth places, respectively.
The Elk Valley boys also participated in a skills competition, where they were tasked with making six different kinds of shots in two rounds. Endicott said while the boys were judged individually for this event, they still had to work together as a team and help each other make a winning shot.
Fischer was originally in fifth place following the first round, but moved up in the second round to take silver, and Kerkhoven took the gold.
Robinson and Carson came in ninth and tenth place respectively. Endicott said they had great sportsmanship and helped their teammates make the winning shots by sweeping their rocks down the ice.
“It was a great experience for the athletes, great learning experience, great social experience,” he said.