SDSS Girls Curling wins historic OFSAA Gold

Head coach Brian Anderson, second Deanna Halls, lead Hailey Peters, vice-skip Brooklyn Hyatt, skip Addison Hyatt and teacher coach Shane Restall.

The Stratford District Secondary School (SDSS) Girls Curling team achieved their goal by winning the school’s first-ever team medal in Curling at the OFSAA Girls Curling Provincial Championship in Thunder Bay on March 28.

The team, consisting of skip Addison Hyatt, vice-skip Brooklyn Hyatt, second Deanna Halls and lead Hailey Peters, remained undefeated in all seven games at the championship.

The SDSS squad outscored its opponents 42-8 during round-robin play, defeating Sault Ste. Marie’s St. Mary’s College Knights, Toronto’s Bishop Allen Academy Cardinals, Milton DHS Mustangs and Norwell DSS Redmen from Palmerston. They entered the quarter-finals as the top-ranked team.

The quarter-final match was against Nantyr Shores Secondary School Tritons from Innisfil. The team was behind until the seventh end, when they stole three points with an incredible double by skip Addison Hyatt to tie the game going into the last end. The eighth end boiled down to the final shot, and Nantyr Shores fell short, allowing SDSS to score five and win the game 11-6.

Semi-Final Saturday featured a contest against the Frontenac SS Falcons from Kingston. These two teams have faced each other twice before at OFSAA, with Frontenac winning both times, but that was not the case today.

This was a back-and-forth game. Tied at four in the sixth end, SDSS scored one in the seventh, heading into the final end of play. SDSS was sitting on two rocks when Frontenac threw a draw on their final shot, which hit a guard and rolled into the rings. The rocks came down to a measure, and SDSS avoided an extra end and secured the win by less than a centimetre.

SDSS faced a very strong École Secondaire Catholique Theriault Flames from Timmins in the finals. It was another back-and-forth game, with ties after the second, fifth and seventh ends. The SDSS team had the last rock in the eighth end, and it ultimately came down to the final shot. ESCT had two rocks in the house. Skip Addison Hyatt needed to throw a light-weight takeout, roll and stick to score their point. With excellent line calls from vice Brooklyn Hyatt and sweeping by lead Hailey Peters and second Deanna Halls, the team managed to move the opponent's rock just far enough to score their one point and win the game.