ATHABASCA – Edwin Parr Composite School's senior high boys curling team are heading to the Alberta Schools’ Athletics Association junior men’s provincials for only the second time in 30 years.
The squad, consisting of skip Josh Wiselka, third Colin Christensen, second Miller Vandervaate and lead Mitchell Freh, struck gold at the ASAA North Central Zone Championships Feb. 21-22 in Barrhead after they defeated Slave Lake 11-3 in the finals.
The win sends the team to the provincial competition in Lethbridge March 5-7.
Wiselka said the team was at their best throughout the tournament.
“We kept Slave Lake chasing us in the final game,” he stated. “I’ve skipped with the team for the past three years, and we have three players in Grade 10 and one in Grade 11.”
He added he hopes to see the team win a medal once they head down south.
“Provincials is as high as it gets for us, and this is our first time we get to go to provincials,” Wiselka said. “We’re all very excited we get to go.”
The last EPC senior high boys curling team to go to provincials was skipped by Josh’s father Kurtis Wiselka back in 1991.
The elder Wiselka, who now coaches the current team, said he hopes his son can do what he wasn’t able to do.
“My team was eliminated in the quarter finals when we went to provincials,” he explained. “My son would one-up me by simply making it to the semi-finals. Where it took my team three years at this level to make it to provincials, while Josh and his team made it there on their first try. It’s really exciting to see.”
Two pools of four teams competed in the zones, with each team playing three games each.
“The boys were tied with another team in their pool at two wins and one loss,” Kurtis Wiselka said. “The team played against R. F. Staples School out of Westlock in the semifinals and won 9-3 to advance to the finals.”
He added the final game was a close one for the first half of the game.
“(EPC) was up 4-3 at the fourth end break, and Josh was able to make a double angle, triple race in the sixth end to put them up 11-3,” the coach said. “The teams then shook hands and declared it a match.”
He said the experience of playing in provincials will be a good first step in their curling careers.
“All they need to do is to go there, take it all in, have lots of fun and play well. That’s all you can really ask for in the end,” Wiselka continued. “They are basically a Grade 10 team, which will make them one of the youngest teams there. The team’s come a long way in the last three years and they have the potential to do quite well.”
He stated that he hopes the team’s success gets other youth interested in the sport of curling.
“We hope to start growing the juniors here in the Athabasca area, and hopefully these boys will be the stewards to grow the sport,” Wiselka said.
Bryan Taylor, TownandCountryToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @BryanTaylorNews
