Okotoks trumped Black Diamond in the all-Foothills battle on the ice.
Hometown skip Cailen Knopp capped an undefeated bonspiel with a 7-3 triumph over Black Diamond’s Jared Palanuik rink to take home the Okotoks U18 Bonspiel Sunday at the Okotoks Curling Club.
“To be the first names on the trophy and have Cailen and I both from Okotoks, that’s pretty special,” said Team Knopp third Michael Steele.
The Okotokian skip called for an open strategy in the final, not wanting to get into a draw game versus its dangerous opposition.
Palanuik, along with third Liam Purcell, second Nicholas Warkman and lead Benjamin Helston, took a 1-0 lead into the second end before Knopp bounced back with a draw for two in the second.
Following a blank third end, the Black Diamond squad missed a chance for a deuce and settled for the single on a measurement in the fourth. They would steal one in the fourth to take a 3-2 advantage.
The sixth end told the tale in the final as the ice was littered with red stones and Palanuik sitting three late in the end. A double knockout from Steele then set the stage for a brilliant Knopp double hit and stick with hammer to somehow come away with a three-ender.
“I called the double and triple for Michael. We didn’t make them both, but we cleared an opening for me to have a shot with last rock,” Knopp said. “We knew we could hit it on two different ways and once we were outside we just called to go over the top.”
The seventh end saw Palanuik settle for a blank to keep the hammer going home and down by a 5-3 count. Knopp used his first shot for a double hit and stick to sit two and put the pressure on Palanuik. The Black Diamond skip was forced to go for a near impossible bump forward with his own rocks, only to have the first stone peel out of play to close the match.
“We just played our game and didn’t get overworked about a shot,” said Team Knopp lead Graham Barnouw. “If you’re heavy, you adjust to the next one. I was getting pretty frustrated out there sometimes, but you just take a few breaths and calm it down.”
Team Knopp — which also features second Max Murchison — completed the bonspiel with an undefeated record and none of its games prior to the final were all that close.
The squad took out Calgary’s Tommy Waite by a 9-2 count, edged Calgary’s Cole Ector 6-1, blanked Okotoks’ James Ballance 11-0 and dispatched St. Albert’s Julia Bakos by a 9-3 score en route to the final.
They couldn’t have found a better time to get hot just two weeks removed from the Southern Alberta Curling Association’s playdowns in Medicine Hat.
“This creates momentum,” Knopp said. “We weren’t having a great start to the season.”
The U15 Division saw a familiar name in Foothills curling take home the title.
Black Diamond skip Sydney Libbus, whose father Mike happens to be the icemaker at the Okotoks Curling Club, along with third Cooper Libbus, second Kiera Bretzlaff and lead Jayden Breztlaff, took the B-title by a 6-4 score over the Colton Burkhard rink.
Calgarian Max Kobylnyk edged out Lethbridge’s Max Kroker 4-3 to take the A-final.
