West Niagara girls rule SOSSA curling
Skip Riley Puhl does it all for the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association champion West Niagara girls curling team.
“She is a competitive curler and has helped coach the team really well,” West Niagara coach Josee Findlay said. “She worked hard with the girls all season and has helped make them successful.”
Vice Taylor Smith and lead Rebecca Findlay take part in the junior program at the Grimsby Curling Club and second Kiera Moor and alternate Aislinn Mierau only curl at the high school level.
West Niagara qualified for the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations playdowns March 20-23 in Kingston Thursday at the St. Catharines Golf and Country Club by defeating Denis Morris 10-2 in the SOSSA final.
West Niagara scored four in the seventh end to take control of the game and force Denis Morris to shake hands after seven ends.
Puhl started in the sport when she was seven but has only been playing competitively for two years. The 17-year-old has already enjoyed some impressive results. The Grade 12 student tried out for and made the Ontario Curling Council academy team last season and helped that Dundas-based win a silver medal at the Ontario Games and place sixth at the provincial championships.
She credits West Niagara’s positive attitude for helping the team qualify for the high school provincial championships
“These girls are always super excited to go out and learn and this is only their second year curling. It has been a good experience for me learning how to coach and helping them find their way to a win at SOSSA.”
She is a bit of a duck out of frozen water on her high school team.
“Honestly on my competitive team, I play front end (second) and I don’t love skipping but it has been a good learning challenge.”
West Niagara also qualified for OFSAA last year but were unable to go because of a scheduling conflict.
“I am super excited to go this year,” Puhl said. “I’m most looking forward to playing against new teams because we haven’t played against any of those teams. In this area, we play the same teams over and over.”
She is also looking forward to checking out Kingston.
“I am going there for university next year,” the future Queen’s physics/engineering student said.
She described the win over Denis Morris as pretty powerful.
“This morning we had a bit of a nail biter and it went to an extra end. I am super proud of everyone for playing their best throughout the day.”
West Niagara advanced to the SOSSA final with an 8-7 extra end victory over A.N. Myer. They stole a point to record the victory.
Members of the Myer rink are skip Claire Fish, vice Avery Smith, second Avalon Goodine, lead Jordan Quait and alternate Brooklynn Russell.
Denis Morris advanced to the SOSSA finals with a 6-5 victory over Saint Paul.
Members of the Denis Morris rink are skip Faith James, vice Olivia Hayward, second Cassie Myzyka and leads Keira Masales and Chloe Hutton.
Denis Morris coach Andrea Cefaratti-Roy pointed to her team’s commitment as the reason why it qualified for the SOSSA final.
“I only have two returning players and three are brand new. They have committed to practice every Tuesday and Thursday for two hours and it we don’t have a practice we have a game,” she said. “They are interested in something different which is great and to get this far is a huge accomplishment. We didn’t expect any results coming in with three new curlers.”
James played a key role in exceeding expectations.
“She is very keen,” Cefaratti-Roy said. “She watches old OFSAA team videos and she is always reading the handbook. She has been great in a leadership role.”
Members of the Saint Paul rink were Charlotte Clark, Teagan Clark, Casey Culp, Sophie Marino and Camille Sallows.
