IDCI girls, WCI boys heading to WOSSAA curling championships

IDCI sweepers Lucy Zimmerman (left) and Marley Papais bring a rock toward the house. (Jeff Tribe Photo)

Jeff Tribe, Echo Correspondent

The life of the Ingersoll DCI Blue Bombers girls curling team’s Western Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association (WOSSAA) dream flashed before their collective eyes.

“That was terrifying!” exclaimed second Marley Papais as she headed off the ice following an upbeat, chaotic and one-of-a-kind 9-6 Thames Valley Regional Athletics (TVRA) championship victory over the visiting St. Thomas Parkside Stampeders on Feb. 25 at the Ingersoll District Curling Club.

“Stressful,” added Skip Taylor Posthumus. “You could throw in a couple of other words.”

“Emotional,” said Vice Jaelynn MacLeod.

The Blue Bombers had exited the fifth end with a comfortable 8-2 lead, stealing two as MacLeod successfully executed a takeout with her second stone, easing behind cover to lie second shot. Following an unsuccessful Parkside raise attempt, Posthumus set up a guard, leading to a steal of two.

Parkside took one in the sixth end, giving the Blue Bombers hammer, still with a comfortable five-point lead for the seventh. However, in a house full of Stampeders stones, the skips traded takeouts, leaving Parkside sitting two against Posthumus’ final stone. It wrecked on a guard, and rather than the planned takeout, ended up raising a third Stampeders rock into scoring position for a steal of three. IDCI took a suddenly much-tighter 8-6 advantage headed into the final end, still with hammer.

The crucial shot in another houseful of stones would be MacLeod’s second, a takeout which slid to sit as shot rock behind a trio of heavy cover in front of the house. The result was not her primary intent, IDCI’s vice admitted, not even Plan B.

“Plan probably Z,” she smiled.

“But it worked out,” said Posthumus. “That’s what got us our point.”

The Stampeders skip’s first rock was a narrowly unsuccessful raise attempt which could have left the visitors sitting three. Her final stone was slightly wide, leaving the Bombers sitting one, Posthumus able to defer on her final stone.

IDCI had scored one in the first, stealing three in the second as Parkside’s ‘hammer’ wrecked on a guard. Posthumus executed a delicate takeout in the third to limit the Stampeders to two, adding two more in the fourth to take a 6-2 lead.

“We could have done better,” MacLeod admitted.

“But we’ll take the WOSSAA win,” said Posthumus.

Getting to WOSSAA was the team’s goal not only this year, but throughout their high school curling careers. It’s an achievement not enjoyed by a Blue Bombers girls team since 2004, confirmed coach Elaine Di Stefano.

“We are excited.”

WOSSAA was to be contested in Listowel on March 9, semi-finals taking to the ice at 8:30 a.m., bronze and gold-medal games to follow at 12:15 p.m. The Woodstock CI Red Devils boys curling team punched their ticket to the event with a comparatively calmer 10-8 victory over the Blue Bombers boys squad.

“Great stuff, guys… guys and gals,” said Red Devils coach Scott MacIntosh at the game’s conclusion.

“He does it all the time,” laughed Red Devils skip Alexis Schaeffer of his modified congratulation, encompassing her considerable contributions.

Schaeffer had made a great shot in particular during the second end, said MacIntosh, scoring three to take a 3-2 lead at the time. The Red Devils stole two in the subsequent two ends, gave up a couple in the fifth and then added a decisive three in the sixth to take a 10-4 lead.

Schaeffer makes some great shots, but is set up by a strong front end, said her coach, with vice Mikhail Petrukhnov also proficient at the takeout game.

“All four of them contribute,” says MacIntosh, pleased to see the Red Devils follow a familiar gameplan of hitting the broom, getting the weight and putting rocks in play.

“It worked for us all year and it worked for us today.”

IDCI skip Karsen Zylstra made a great shot of his own in the seventh to score three, credited MacIntosh.

“That brought them back in.”

The WCI lead was large enough in the eighth end, and Schaeffer could pass on her final stone, shaking hands and giving up what technically was a steal of one in the 10-8 final.

Schaeffer, who was also on the ice later that day at provincial U20 women’s championships with the Bolton rink, was looking forward to WOSSAA competition.

“Just play our best, try for a medal.”

“Very exciting,” added Petrukhnov. “Play as we play right now and try our best.”

The result was not the one the Blue Bombers boys' rink had hoped for, but part of a successful season that had its share of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

“That’s how curling works,” summed up Zylstra, who has been curling since Grade 5.

On the positive side, the entire Blue Bombers team is eligible to return, said coach Mike Bryson, anticipating another competitive season in 2026-2027.

“The pool is deep.”