Our first event of the 2018/2019 season got underway Saturday, October 6th at the RCMP Curling Club as part of the Moosehead Classic run in partnership with Capital Curling. Teams representing the Navy, Buckingham, North Grenville (Kemptville), Ottawa, and Manotick Curling Clubs hit the ice to kickoff the season.
In the first draw, Team Winchester (Navy) defeated Team O’Reilly (Manotick) 8-5. Team Doucette (Kemptville) won over Team Gallinger (Kemptville) 8-5, and Team Periard (Buckingham) defeated team Fleck (Ottawa) 8-1. At 4:30pm teams hit the ice again for the second draw of the day. Team Periard and Team Winchester went right to the last rock with Periard squeaking out a 7-6 victory. Similarly, Team Doucette managed a last rock 6-5 win over Team O’Reilly, and Team Fleck was victorious over Team Gallinger 7-3.
Sunday saw a single draw at 4:00pm. Team Doucette fell to Team Periard 7-1 with early handshakes after 4 ends. That win put Team Periard straight into the Monday afternoon finals. Team Gallinger took team O’Reilly to an extra-end to notch their first win of the season by a score of 7-6. Unfortunately, due to some sad family news, Team Winchester had to forfeit their final game putting Team Fleck into the semi-final matchup against Team Doucette, both with 2-1 records.
Play got underway Monday morning at 10:00am sharp with the semi-final game between Fleck and Doucette. It was a seesaw battle starting with Team Fleck having hammer and grabbing 4 in the first end, then giving it back in the 6th. The final score ended up 9-6 sending Team Doucette into the finals in a rematch with Team Periard.
The Championship game was a 1:00pm start with Team Doucette and Team Periard exchanging ends of 2 and 1 bringing the game tied 3-3 after 4 ends. Then Team Doucette exploded for 5 in the 5th to take what looked like a commanding lead. Good thing fans didn’t leave the building at that point because Team Periard stormed back in the 6th to grab 4 making it a one point game with 2 ends to play. Team Periard maintained their momentum taking 2 in the 7th and 1 in the final end to secure the Championship victory and capture the first event of the Colts Season. Congratulations Team Periard of the Buckingham Curling Club! They shared the $300 prize money and kindly bought Team Doucette a much needed beverage after the game!
A special thank you goes out to John Steski of Capital Curling! John has been a tremendous supporter of the Ottawa Colts Curling Series this season. He ran a fantastic event hosted at the RCMP Curling Club on some great ice. Congratulations also goes out to John’s team (Team Dow) who won the Open side of the Moosehead Classic event! Fantastic job John, and thank you again for your support.