A team from the Interior and a team from the Lower Mainland were the winners of the curling competition at the 2020 BC Winter Games in Fort St John.

Team Rempel and Team Fei brought home the gold medals in curling at the multi-sport event that wrapped up on Sunday (Feb. 23). The curling was staged at Fort St John Curling Club.

Curl BC’s Education and Camps Coordinator Kim Dennis attended the event. She said: “The community of Fort St John did a great job of hosting the event and we want to thank all the volunteers for all their hard work.  You could feel the spirit of the games everywhere in the community,” she said.

“Our athletes and coaches kept talking about how much fun everyone was having,” Dennis added.

Team Rempel, from Kelowna, made up of skip Hannah Rempel, third Vivian Schmeeckle, second Megan Rempel, lead Lauren Cochrane and coach Wendy Cseke were dominant in the playoffs, beating their Zone 2 counterparts Team Trip (Penticton) in the semis 11-3 on their way to the gold medal game against Team Richards (Comox). A deuce in the fourth end helped them on their way to a 5-4 victory over Team Richards.

It was an impressive victory given that three members of the team from the Island have national experience (2019 Canada Winter Games). The Richards rink of skip Gracelyn Richards, third Keelie Duncan, second Bryn Woloshyn, lead Carley Hardie and coaches Adam Duncan and Darren Richards, were awarded the silver medal.

Team 4KGirl$ from Golden Ears Winter Club (GEWC of Maple Ridge) won the bronze medal after beating Team Trip 10-9. The team is made up of skip Amy Wheatcroft, third Ashley Dezura, second Brook Aleksic, lead Hannah Smeed, fifth Savannah Miley and coaches Diane Dezura, Shannon Joanisse and Georgina Wheatcroft.

In boys’ play, Team Fei, from GEWC/Royal City/Port Moody/Delta Thistle, claimed gold after going undefeated in the competition. The team is made up of skip Kazune Eugene Fei, third Adam Fenton, second Evan Fenton, lead James McCreedy and coaches Fuji Miki and Brad Fenton.

The Fei rink met Team Parkinson in the final, defeating the Comox/Qualicum rink 11-9. Team Parkinson is made up of skip Chris Parkinson, third Jackson Nowak, second Henry Holland, lead Graham Lee and coach Bob Franklin.

The bronze medals were awarded to Team Reed from GEWC. The team of skip Thomas Reed, third Miles Reed, second Peter Sheridan, lead Sawyer Miley, fifth Wally Dezura and coach Rob Smith went undefeated in pool play only losing to Team Parkinson in the semis.

For the boys, all eight zones fielded teams, but for the girls, seven Zones were represented with the host Zone 8 – Cariboo-North East not fielding a team. The extra berth was awarded to Zone 2 – Thompson/Okanagan.

The event in Fort St John saw two pools for each gender compete in a round robin format with the top teams advancing to playoffs. The teams that did not take part in the championship playoff took part in a consolation round.

During the event, Curl BC partnered with viaSport and the BC Games Society to run a Coach Mentorship Program.

The full rosters of all the teams that were at the BC Winter Games are below.

Scores for the BC Winter Games girls’ event are available at http://bot.curlbc.ca//web/CompRR?compid=3197.

Scores for the BC Winter Games boys’ event are available at http://bot.curlbc.ca//web/CompRR?compid=3141.