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Curlers travel to provincials

The Smithers high school curling team is off to provincials after winning their zones.
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The Smithers high school curling team is off to provincials.

The Smithers high school curling team is off to provincials in Parksville this weekend, after they won their zone tournament over Kitimat at Prince Rupert in January.

“Every year we go down hoping to do well,” head coach Laurence Turney said.

“We have been getting better every year, getting more experience with each time.

“If we play as well as we can and we get a little bit of luck, then we can come home with the prize.”

The boys from Smithers will go up against seven other teams from different zones around the province.

The tournament is a round robin format, with no playoffs.

The rink with the best record at the end, wins.

If they hope to place, they’ll have to beat strong rinks from the Lower Mainland and Dawson Creek.

The key, Turney says, is consistency.

“With high school teams, they often struggle to find consistency.

“You get one big end and then the other team gets one big one, but if we can limit those big ends from the other team then we’ll have a chance to do well.”

It’s the fourth straight appearance at provincials for the Smithers rink and the fourth time that team members Adam Hartnett, Malcolm Turney and Glyn Doyle have participated.

In addition to the senior members on the team, fifth Matthew Steventon is going to provincials for the first time and Sean Turney will make his second trip.

The boys don’t get a lot of chances to play other curlers their age from around the region, but they do participate in men’s league at the local rink.

Recently, the team competed at the Steelhead bonspiel, and came away with a second place finish in the D event, after posting a 4-3 record over the two day event.

Though the senior girls decided not to compete in zones this year because of a lack of experience, they will head to Kitimat this weekend for a fun bonspiel with other teams from around the northwest.

Turney is hopeful that the girls will ice a team for next season.