Local curlers win Gold

This last weekend the Augustana Vikings Men’s and Mixed curling teams curled in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) provincial championship in Olds, Alberta. Cur
The Mixed team, skipped by Brad Schroeder of Coronation, third Allison Owens of Olds, second Ben Bates of Vermilion, all of Alberta, and lead Mari McLachlan of Tisdale, Sk. finished the round robin in second place defeating Olds College and Red Deer College Friday night and losing to Lakeland College Saturday morning.
Later that afternoon the Vikings had to play the Lakeland Rustlers in the ‘Page play down, 1 verses 2 game’. Viking kept it close but ended up losing by three, dropping them to the semi-final against Olds.
Saturday night was successful with a commanding 8 – 0 win against the Olds College sending them into the gold medal game against, once again, Lakeland College Rustlers.
In the gold medal game the Rustlers jumped to an early lead by taking three points in the first end.  Vikings then replied in the second by scoring two and stealing one in the third end to make it a tied game at three.
The next four ends were blanked with both teams making fabulous shots, causing coaches, parents and fans to watch from the edge of their seats with anticipation.  In the eighth end was kept fairly clean until it came down to the skip’s last stones.
Schroeder’s last rock was a draw that was partly buried by a lone guard. The Rustlers skip then chose to draw for the win needing to be closer than the Vikings rock. As the shot slid down the ice, with sweepers ready to help, the rock slid to the back of the house allowing the Vikings’ stone to count by half a rock rewarding the gold medal to the Augustana Vikings .
The Viking men’s team received a silver medal.
Three of the Viking players also received ACAC all conference team awards. Skip Brad Schroeder, third Alison Owens and second Ben Bates.