Coquitlam's Centennial secondary brought home their first provincial curling pennant this week.
Even more impressive is that it's only the second year the school has fielded a curling team in recent history. Centennial grads Lisa Mulzet, who now teaches at the school, and Debbie Carroll stepped up to the plate as coaches; both women curled for the school back in the 1980s.
"Schools with [curling] teams are few and far between," said Mulzet. Added Carroll, "We [Centennial] had no teams because we couldn't get a teacher sponsor."
At the same time, there was a group of five Centennial students experienced curlers, chomping at the bit to get a high school team together. The boys are members of the Coquitlam Curling Club, competing for Team Habkirk.
Last year, with Carroll and Mulzet as coaches, Centennial tied for third in the curling provincials. Then, in February, the team won the Fraser Valley title after outscoring Surrey's Lord Tweedsmuir.
"The boys just played outstanding in that game," said Carroll.
That win secured them a berth at the provincial curling championships in Kamloops last weekend.
After playing seven games over four days, Centennial was tied with two other schools for first place.
Fortunately for Centennial, in a pre-game practice, their team took the lowest accumulative draw to the button which gave them a bye, putting them through to the finals.
"We were ecstatic," recalled Carroll. "We couldn't believe it. It's [the draw] hard to do among eight teams."
The Centennial boys then sat back until the final match was set: They would play Vancouver Island's Frances Kelsey secondary, a team that had beat Centennial in round robin play.
In the fourth end, half way through the game, the score was tied.
"We kept stealing," said Carroll.
Tournament delays meant the two teams were still down on the ice when the awards banquet started.
"There were 180 people staring down at the kids through the upstairs glass," said Carroll. There was a huge amount of pressure."
Mulzet was equally impressed with how the boys carried themselves in the final ends of the game.
"As each player was about to throw, it was completely quiet in the rink and they knew that all those eyes were on them," described Mulzet. "Despite all of that, the boys knew what they had to do and they made their shots."
Carroll said the whole team played fantastic, noting the skip, Kyle Habkirk, called an excellent game, while the other players - Kento Sato, Ryan Harbrink and brothers Nicholas and Zac Umbach - focused really hard on making their shots.
"We ran them [Frances Kelsey] out of rocks in the last end."
The final score of the game was 5-2 for Centennial. The boys returned to school proudly on Monday with their provincial pennant. Carroll heard from one of the player's mothers that many students were shaking his hand.
"My hope is that it will kick start more high school students to take up curling," said Carroll.
Centennial is steeped in curling history. Alumnus Brent Pierce was on the team that won the 2000 Canadian Curling Championships. Carroll is confident the sport will stick around at the school for awhile. She's also trying to get a girls team going for next year.
"We actually have quite a few curlers coming up, siblings [of current Centennial players]," she said. "Centennial should have a team for at least another five years."
MORE CURLING FOR HABKIRK AND CREW
Four members of the winning Centennial curling team are currently in Prince George competing in the 2013 Tim Hortons BC Juvenile Curling Championships from March 7-10.
Team Habkirk from the Coquitlam Curling Club is playing their first game today (Mar. 8). When asked how the boys are feeling going into this tournament fresh off a win, Habkirk coach Debbie Carroll said the adrenaline is still running high.
"I really hope that it's going to give them the energy and keep them focused," said Carroll. "We've done it [won] once, we can do it again."
The team recently played in the Junior Provincials which were held at the Coquitlam Curling Club in January. Kyle Habkirk called it the "trifecta," said his high school curling coach Lisa Mulzet.
"It's very rare for a team to be able to compete in all three events in one season - and it speaks volumes for the work that Debbie Carroll has done with them as their community coach," added Mulzet.
