It was kismet that the provincial high school boys curling championship team had the trophy even before they were crowned the winner.
“We had the provincial trophy when we won the Valley Championship in Kelowna, because they were last year’s provincial champion, and we brought it to our school in Penticton to take to the provincial championship. Then we had to send it by courier to New Westminster where provincials were held this year. Now it has to come all the way back to our school,” said Penticton Secondary School Lakers third Owen Manning.
Related: Penticton Lakers curling team headed to provincials
It was a long journey for the trophy to return to the Lakers display case. Not only has it traipsed around the southern part of the province the past few weeks, it has been 56 years since a Lakers curling team won the provincial boys title. A feat that skip Tane Kita, lead Zack Kuechle, second Keiji Kita, third Manning and their coach Peggy Sakamoto are quite proud of.
“They played so great, and I just can’t be happier for them. They all worked so hard so this is just the perfect icing on the cake,” said Sakamoto, who is also the aunt of the Kita twin brothers.
Competing against the top eight high school teams in the province, Team Kita went into the third day of competition with five wins and one loss. The group also had the best cumulative draw to the button total, which determined who got the hammer in each game and how they ranked in the playoffs.
“All we wanted to do was try and win half our games and then see how things were going from there. But the boys won their first game, lost their second and just kept on winning,” said Sakamoto. “They were just taking it one game at a time and staying within each game to be in the moment. That was the goal, and to have some fun out there.”
The Lakers met Elgin Park (Surrey) who were standing at four wins and two losses on the final day. Team Kita had a couple of misses, giving up a four-ender in the seventh. Elgin Park’s win over the Lakers resulted in a championship tie-breaker game, with both teams sitting at a 5-2 record.
Lakers lead Manning said they shook off the loss quickly.
“We had one bad end but we just held our heads up, like we always do, and kept going.”
The Lakers took the tie-breaker championship game by a score of 7-2, shaking hands with Elgin Park in the seventh.
“I had a freeze that they couldn’t pry out and then Keiji made a double take out. Tane made an unbelievable guard with a stone perfectly buried right behind it. We all had lots of nice draws right to the button,” said Manning of the Lakers play.
The championship banner will now hang at Penticton Secondary School and the trophy made of granite and steel will have their names engraved on it for display at the school until the next provincial championship.