The Norwell District Secondary School girls curling team traveled to Ottawa for the OFSAA provincial championship from March 20 to 23.
Representing Norwell, the CWOSSA champions, were lead Sara Driedger, second Nicole Ross, third Jacinda Schieck and skip Paige Droog, accompanied by family members and coach Tyson Smith.
The competition started off at the Nepean Sportsplex 10-sheet curling facility with an opening ceremony. The girls, clad in Scottish kilts, were piped in alongside 35 other high school teams from across Ontario. The field of girls teams was split into three groups of six teams.
In game one against the Fonthill team, Norwell scored three in the third end and held on for a 6-5 win despite allowing three consecutive stolen ends.
Game two was 12-5 win over Glengarry District High School. Norwell managed to load the house with rocks and guards and scored a few big ends, noted Smith.
In its third game, Norwell edged Marymount Academy from Sudbury 6-5 in a game in which anything more than a single point was very hard to score. Norwell did manage to count two in the sixth end only to see Marymount Academy take two right after. In an extra end, Droog drew against two Marymount rocks to count one and win the game with Driedger, Schieck and Ross sweeping to bring it in.
In game four Norwell dominated Vincent Massey Secondary School from Windsor, winning 12-2.
After trading points early in the game, Norwell scored three big ends against the other team that would eventually advance out of Pool C. The teams shook hands to finalize the game after six ends.
Canterbury High School from Ottawa was Norwell’s game five opponent. After a closely-played defensive match Norwell managed to get up a couple points and effectively run the team from Ottawa out of rocks and count an 8-6 victory.
A perfect 5-0 after round robin play, Norwell advanced to the playoffs as the number one seed.
The Palmerston team then recorded a 6-5 win over Chatham Kent High School in the quarter finals. After Norwell jumped out to an early lead the experienced Chatham Kent team managed to close the gap, stealing one in the eighth to just fall short of Norwell.
Norwell’s semi-final opponent was Perth District Collegiate Institute
“Perth is a remarkably strong team and this game could have very easily been the gold/silver match,” Smith said, noting Perth played a very defensive style, as did Norwell.
After taking the only two-point end, Norwell ran Perth out of rocks to win 5-3. Droog had to make a nearly perfect pick with great sweeping calls made by Ross and Schieck.
“This game should have been televised on TSN,” said Smith.
The win put Norwell in the final game against Loretto Abbey of Toronto
“This game was an absolute chess match with Loretto Abbey making some very thin double takeouts to stay with Norwell,” said Smith.
Ross and Schieck each made double takeouts in ends five and six.
Driedger provided perfect late-game shooting to put the team off on the right foot each end.
Norwell ended up having to make several strategic decisions, including choosing to blank the seventh end and go into the eighth up one point and with the hammer.
Loretto Abbey played a very disciplined eighth end, putting up numerous guards that Ross and Schieck continued to peel away.
In the end Droog was faced with a decision between an all or nothing tricky shot for the win or to remove one of Loretto’s rocks and allow them to steal one and go into the extra end. She chose the latter, making the takeout.
“Everyone in the building was nervous with the exception of the Norwell Redmen girls curling team,” said Smith.
“They were laughing and having a great time, enjoying the moment. It was an incredible sight.”
He added the game official said he had never seen such an inspiring young team.
Both teams shot a near 100 per cent end and it came down to the final few shots. Droog drew around three guards to land about 18 inches from the button.
Loretto Abbey’s skip delivered what looked to be a perfect draw just squeaking by the guard on route to the button. The sweeping that was needed to pass the guard allowed Ross to sweep it just past the button, leaving Norwell’s rock about one inch closer, winning them the gold medal as OFSAA girls champions 2013.
Schieck gave an eloquent speech thanking competitors, the tournament convenor Dwayne Scullion and the organizing committee for putting on an excellent and memorable competition.
“The absolute best part of the competition was that the girls of Norwell became fan favourites among competitors and spectators alike as a result of their character and skill … gaining more support with every game,” Smith said.
“Special thanks goes out to everyone who helped make this experience possible, including the girls’ parents, teachers and former coaches, Norwell Athletics and Mr. Strachan, Mrs. Harrison and Mr. Bishop and the OFSAA committee that had to work extremely hard to put the competition on at very short notice.”
Smith also directed special thanks to Lindsay Brown, who played with the team all season but could not make it to the OFSAA finals.
“They wouldn’t have been there without her,” he said.
