Ryan Graham, Observer Reporter
Although Quesnel came up short in their goal of winning the 2017 BC Senior Curling Championship in Salmon Arm Feb. 20 – 26, it was an experience they will never forget.
“It was certainly a great experience and we learned where we were in our games in comparison to where we would need to be for sure,” Dave Plant said.
The team consisted of Plant, Ben Ruether, Dean Rubisch and Jerry Melnyk who represented the northern region at provincials. Plant admits the atmosphere of the championship is something the team had never experienced.
“I think we were a little star struck and weren’t totally prepared for what we were up against,” Plant said.
“As much as we thought we were ready, you don’t know too you get there and I think it kind of caught us off guard.”
They went up against seven other teams and finished with a record of 1-6 for the tournament.
“We weren’t that far off but we didn’t seem to get a lot of traction and never got our stride going,” Plant said.
“All four of us never clicked at the same time for a whole game and when you play that caliber of opponents it’s really important that you get your rocks in the right place. When we had the hammer in our seven games we only scored multiple points once and the one game we scored multiple points with the hammer was the only game we won.”
He added the teams they went up against had years of experience on them.
“Nothing trumps experience,” Plant said.
“You could really see all the provincial and national experience those top teams had and it worked in their favour. When you made a mistake the other teams made you pay for it. Most of those top teams don’t make two mistakes in the same end and they never did it two or three shots in a row.”
He added, three out of the eight teams also played in the men’s championship. One thing he took out of the experience was the commitment that you need to become the best.
“I had a great group of guys with me and we held it together but there is no doubt in my mind that to get to that level you really have to prepare yourself and travel to play tougher competition on different ice surfaces,” Plant said.
“You have to put yourself in different situations and be able to experience them so when you come across it you know what to do.”
Going into the championship they had concerns about the time clock which was new for them.
“Once we started playing the time clock never did become a factor,” Plant said.
“The first game we seemed to be racing a bit and rushed our shots but in reality we were never pressed for time.”
Even though the team didn’t come home with the result they had hoped for they were pleased with how they performed.
“We were proud of ourselves because we were pretty much in five of the seven games we played,” Plant said.