(Photo courtesy/Melfort Curling Club, Facebook)

By Ben Tompkins

Golden Victory

Melfort Special Olympics Curling team earns trip to Calgary for National competition

Feb 1, 2023 | 5:32 PM

The Melfort Special Olympics (MSO) curling team will represent their home province after punching their ticket to the 2024 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games, Feb. 2024 in Calgary.

The group recently played at a 10-team tournament down in Regina, which featured squads from both Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Because Melfort came out on top at the event, they are now set to represent Saskatchewan at a national event.

“We’re pretty excited about going to Calgary… it was so much fun for these guys because they curl like a team,” said Bryan Kjelshus, MSO’s head coach.

And curling like a team may just have been the biggest reason for their success.

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Melfort was viewed as a bit of an underdog going in, with other teams coming from bigger centers like Regina and Swift Current.

Kjelshus said the chemistry on the team can overcome things like a gap in talent or depth.

“The lead is not trying to give the second a hard time and the second to the third and so there’s no infighting on the team and it’s so much fun that you might not have the strongest team, but when they curl together it is just so much fun to watch. It’s nerve-wracking, but it’s still fun.”

Nerve-wracking may have been the perfect definition of the weekend, as Melfort won the tournament by just one point.

Each team played a total of five games over two days, with each being six ends.

Melfort played it down to the wire, as in their final game, they were tied with one end left, where they eventually went on to steal four.

“I don’t think our guys missed a shot right from the lead, up to the skip,” Kjelshus added. “Our guys went out and seemed to settle down, and curl really well and pulled the win off… they’re a pretty strong team, so we couldn’t curl and just have a 50% game.”

For this club, they now have the next year to prepare for the biggest stage, as they look forward to representing a smaller community in the northeast area.

“A feather in our cap.”

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8