Eden and Grimsby top SOSSA curling

A pair of rinks will be going to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations’ curling championships for the first time following Tuesday’s Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association finals at the St. Catharines Golf and Country Club.

Eden’s Levi Martens rink defeated A.N. Myer’s Victor Pietrangelo rink 9-2 to capture the boys division and Grimsby’s Abbey Salari foursome outscored A.N. Myer’s Jessica Zheng rink 11-8 to bring home the SOSSA girls crown.

The Martens rink, which includes Luke Martens, Toby Jeffries, Riley Koop, Alex LeBlanc and Noah Landry, took command early, building a 6-0 lead after five ends before coasting home to the victory.

“We stuck to our game plan and we were able to play our game and almost steal every end,” skip Levi Martens said. “Knowing the ice really well and all the guys making their shots really helped.”

At no point did Eden get overconfident.

“I didn’t want to say it at all,” Martens said. “I am always so nervous and I never give up until it is over.”

The nerves are both good and bad for the 15-year-old skip.

“Sometimes it helps you with the confidence and sometimes you are getting nervous before your shot and you hope that you don’t screw up.”

Eden’s rink is somewhat ahead of schedule with a player in Grade 9, Martens in Grade 10 and two curlers in Grade 11.

“This is the beginning of a new team and we still have a few more years of high school curling,” Martens said.

The entire rink is looking forward to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations’ championships March 25-28 in Durham.

“We just have to stick to our game plan,” he said.

And while they are young, Martens and his teammates are aiming high.

“Let’s win OFSAA,” he said, with a laugh.

Pietrangelo’s rink, which won a bronze at the former Gore provincials last year, was in tough right from the start versus Eden.

“They were just making everything and playing really well,” Pietrangelo said. “Even if we would have been playing at our best it would have been a super close game.”

Pietrangelo agreed home-ice advantage seemed to be exactly that for Eden.

“The ice started breaking down around the third or fourth end which doesn’t usually happen. Usually, it is about the sixth or seventh end when it starts to break down,” he said. “They knew where to put the broom and how much it was curling.

“They pretty much didn’t miss a hit at all and it is just different when you are on your home ice.”

Pietrangelo’s Zone 3 champions rink included vice Nick Simmonds, second James Harvie and lead Davis Gollert.

Salari’s Zone 4 championship rink, made up of vice Megan McIntosh, second Lilly Roberts, lead Teagan Whitehead and alternate Sarah Puhl, put on a scoring display that was almost matched by A.N. Myer.

Grimsby opened with a score of four and Myer respond with three of its own. The Salari rink then built a 7-3 lead only to see Myer trim the margin to 7-5 after five ends. Grimsby responded with two in the sixth end to go up 9-5 only to see Zheng’s rink score three in the seventh end to cut the lead to 9-8 heading into the final end. Grimsby second Roberts made a huge double takeout to turn the final end in Grimsby’s favour and the Salari rink added two more when Zheng’s final shot went through the house.

“It is super exciting,” Salari said. “This is the first time for each of us going to OFSAA and we are thrilled.”
Salari and her teammates thought their team had a chance to go to OFSAA after it defeated Myer in qualifying for the Ontario School Curling Provincial Championships (Gore) and at the Gore championships. The Myer rink had qualified for both the Gore provincials and OFSAA last year.

“We thought we had a chance because they had made it to OFSAA the past couple of years,” Salari said. “In the first end today, we took four and that really sparked the adrenaline.”

Their happiness and adrenaline rush was short lived.

“We were comfortable when we took four and then they took three right back,” Salari said.

The Grimsby rink will head to OFSAA as one of the favourites following its victory at the Ontario School Curling Provincial Championships.

“Our goal is to get to playoffs,” she said. “We need to win a couple of games and then take it as far as we can.”

While disappointed, Zheng took some comfort in how hard her team played against the Ontario School Curling Provincial Championships (Gore) champions.

“It was a rough start for us at the beginning but we were able to catch up in the second end,” Zheng said. “We fought to the end, we were down one and we knew we had to steal.

“We started off nicely but then they were able to peel our guards.”

Zheng agreed the game was unusually high scoring.

“Both teams just had their misses and no one was taking advantage of them,” she said.

Zheng’s Zone 3 championship rink was made up of vice Abby Zwaryn, second Katie Walfenberg and lead Leah Szywaga.