麻豆社区

Flying high after securing the first two Yukon playoff berths in Dominion Club Curling Championships history last week, both Whitehorse rinks were brought back to earth with a jolt Friday night.

Pat Paslawski and Nicole Baldwin's teams were handed semifinal losses by their Saskatchewan rivals, bringing an end to their cinderella runs at the national amateur curling championships in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Paslawski's men's rink battled the ice conditions all night en route to a 5-1 loss, while Baldwin's hammer shot came up short in an extra end to hand Saskatchewan a 6-5 win.

Saskatchewan's celebrations would also be short-lived however, as Alberta went on to take the men's title 5-2 and Manitoba won the women's championship 6-4 Saturday.

Baldwin said watching her hammer shot come up light with a championship appearance on the line was simply heartbreaking.

"We curled really well. We played the last two ends like we wanted to play,鈥� the 33-year-old skip said. "It just came down to last shot and the ice conditions had changed so much ... I鈥坖ust came up short with my draw.

"It was a heartbreaker. After scoring a triple in the sixth (to go up 5-3), the full momentum of that game shifted to our side. We had that extra little spring in our step, and just to come down to last rock and have that shot .... yeah. It was just bad luck.鈥�

Baldwin and her talented rink of Ladene Shaw, Helen Strong and Rhonda Horte finished 4-2 in round robin play.

Despite their semifinal losses, both Yukon skips said they were proud of their accomplishments at the Dominion championship, now in its fifth year.

"I'm extraordinarily proud of my team and where we ended up,鈥濃�圔aldwin said. "I鈥坒ound that we got stronger after every game. Even though there was a couple of losses in there, we grew from those losses.鈥�

Baldwin said her rink was able to find a "really good harmony鈥� between them that allowed them to excel on the country's biggest stage.

She said her club will always relish their time at Dominions.

"It's a fantastic event,鈥� she said. "You're treated like royalty there. It feels like you're at the show. It's just a great experience.鈥�

Meanwhile, Paslawski's men's rink cobbled together some of their best curling to go 5-1 in the round robin.

"We represented ourselves and the Yukon really, really well,鈥� Paslawski told the Star today. "We were the belles of the ball. It really felt like everyone was cheering for us. That was really, really nice.鈥�

The 47-year-old skip and his team struggled to rediscover their touch in a low-scoring semifinal, however.

The Yukon didn't score until the sixth end, where a single reduced Saskatchewan's lead to 3-1. But armed with the hammer, the prairie province scored a double in the seventh to send the Yukon packing.

"The Saskatchewan skip seemed to want to play a fairly wide-open game,鈥濃�圥aslawski explained. "And my guys, including myself, were struggling with draw weight, so we couldn't get into a more aggressive game.

"We didn't curl badly, but that Saskatchewan skip was bang on. He really made it hard for us,鈥� he said.

Paslawski's rink, made up of Doug Hamilton, Alexx Peech and Trent Derkatch were the first rink in Yukon history to qualify for the Dominion championship draw.

"We take a lot of pride in that,鈥濃�圥aslawski said. "I like to think we helped put the Yukon back on the curling map, in a small way.鈥�

The skip said the feeling he got in conversations with high-ranking curling executives was that having two teams from a small jurisdiction like the Yukon qualify for the playoffs was "a big deal for curling in Canada.鈥�

Curling at a high level for subsequent games will benefit both Yukon rinks down the road, Paslawski said.

"We learned some lessons, some of them more difficult than others, but there's no other way to learn those lessons,鈥� Paslawski said. "We have to go to the national stage and play and lose to learn those lessons. Next time we go, hopefully we don't make those mistakes again. There's lots of other mistakes we could make, but hopefully this is an experience that makes us better the next time.鈥�

Dominions complete, Baldwin's rink will now focus on the next level of major Canadian curling tournament 鈥� the Scotties.

"We are going to go into the Yukon playdowns,鈥濃�圔aldwin said. "And then however that turns out, we're going to go into territorials.鈥�

Neither team will be able to return to the Dominions next season with the exact same roster, due to a Whitehorse Curling Club ruling meant to encourage diversity.

"This is not a new rule,鈥� club president Mark Evans explained. "The intent of it is to encourage opportunities for club curlers to compete at a national competition.鈥�