Coronach Curling Club hosts Junior Southern Men's Championships

Despite 10 centimetres of snow, a blizzard warning and a minus 40 windchill, 12 teams from southern regions of the province, battled the elements January 2-4 weekend to play in the 2009 Southern Junior Men's Championships at the host curling club in Coronach. In the end, Team Vey, Team Hartung, Team Knapp, and Team Meyer qualified to play in the 2009 Provincial Junior Men's Championships in Burstall.

Teams travelled to Coronach from such places as Regina, Swift Current, Moose Jaw, Weyburn, Balgonie, Benson, Langenburg and Assiniboia to participate in the triple knockout three event playdown.

Winning the "A "event on the second day of playdowns and the top team to qualify for Burstall, was Team Vey from the Regina Callie Curling Club. Members of the team included Skip Garrett Vey, Third Matthew Lang, Second Braeden Moskowy, Lead Brent Rodgers, and Coach Dean Vey. Team Vey entered the competition after qualifying in the "B" event from a qualifying bonspiel, which gave them a bye in the first round and onto the "A" quarter finals.

In the "A "event quarter finals, Vey played against Team Wallace from Swift Current. With Wallace tying the score 5-5 after the eighth end, Vey came back and scored one rock to make it 6-5 in the end. The next day, Team Vey moved on to the semi-finals against Team Hartung from Langenburg and went on to beat them by a score of 8-4. The final draw of the "A" event then saw Team Vey beat out Team McKenzie with an impressive score of 9-2. When asked how the game went, Vey added "I think it went well. We got a few breaks here and there. They couldn't cap on us on a few things and we were able to jump on them, and we got an early lead and we kind of ran with it. But (the game) wasn't kind of how the score indicated.

Vey and his teammates had a lot of preparation for these playdowns. "We've been playing a lot this year. (We played) every weekend in October. In November we obviously had the Q-spiel. We qualified there and at the end of November we went and played in the WCT event in Saskatoon. That was a lot of fun. It was good competition so we got to see where we ranked. We also played against some men's teams at the Highland Cash Spiel. We've been playing against a lot of good teams so it's good competition." In addition to playing in various bonspeils, Team Vey also took time to travel to Coronach weeks prior to competition specifically to practise and get a feel for the ice they would be playing on for the playdowns.

Unfortunately, the same ice they practised on weeks prior to the event was an issue to the curlers the first day of competition. Due to an unexplained temperature increase inside the rink, the ice began to melt which made it very difficult for the curlers. Thankfully the curlers played through the difficulties and the problem was quickly fixed by the next morning. "I know (the curlers) were a little upset about (the quality of the ice on the first day) but the curlers got to deal with (issues like that). We found a way to get through that first game but other than that the ice turned out great. They fixed (the ice) really fast which impressed me because I didn't think they would be able to fix it that fast."

After losing to Team Vey in the semi-finals, Team Hartung went to the quarter finals in the "B" event, and advanced to the finals against Team Knapp. Tied after the seventh end, Hartung went on to score single points in the eighth and ninth end to win the draw with a final score of 5-3. "It was a really good game. It was kind of back and forth. We had a couple of missed opportunities but in the eighth end we stole one and then another in the ninth." Members of the Hartung team include Skip Kody Hartung, Third Tyler Hartung, Second Jared Shwaga, Lead Jayden Shwaga, and Coach Jeff Hartung.
Team Knapp went on to win one of the qualifying draws in the "C" event. The last draw of the competition, and the final qualifier for the provincials went to Team Meyer.

Each year, communities in Southern Saskatchewan bid to host these games. In 2007, the Coronach Curling club placed a bid to host the 2009 competition and won. Since September of 2008, committee members which include Jeremy Tipper, Doug Seidel, Michelle Tamlin, Devon Struble, Denise Skinner, Carmen Koski, and Amanda Crocker, met many times to organize and prepare for the event. Through numerous hours of preparation, and with the help of local donations, and volunteers, the weekend was a great success.Committee Chairperson Jeremy Tipper stated, "We started the weekend off on a very stressful note concerning the quality of the ice. However, with the help of Devon Struble and volunteers, Scott Skinner and Wayne Koski, the problem was quickly fixed. From talking to many curlers and family members during the event, it is clear that the playdowns were an overall success, and especially a success to the Coronach Curling Club. Without the committee's hard work, dedication and countless hours away from family, this event would have not been a great success."