A two-year journey ended with a golden finish for an Okotoks rink.
Team Bachek, featuring skip Kesler Bachek, third Andrew Southworth, second Dylan Miller and lead Max Ingram, produced a 9-0 record to reign supreme in a field of 21 squads to bring home the Curling Alberta U15 Championship from Grande Prairie on Sunday.
“It means a lot,” said Bachek. “Setting out with the goal last year of wanting to win provincials and finally achieving it and considering this was our last year at U15 that makes it more special as we won’t have that same opportunity again.
“It was unbelievable that we could come through and be provincial champions.”
Team Bachek, who curl out of the Okotoks Curling Club, secured the title with a 4-3 win over Carstairs’ Team Meyers in the final, scoring the winning point in the extra end.
“Kesler had a choice to draw or hit,” said coach Don Bachek. “Normally, he likes the draw, but we weren’t quite sure with the ice, so we went with the hit and it was close, we had to stick it, and our sweepers Dylan and Max held the line and it was enough to sit one and get the win.”
The skip said his team handled the pressure cooker well, attributing its success to practice, trusting the process and one another.
“Being the only game left on the ice made it pretty stressful,” he said. “But it was just reminding ourselves that we had hammer and were kind of in control of it and then just taking the time in the hack and refocusing yourself to make sure you knew what shot you had to make.”
The Okotoks rink finished pool play with a 6-0 record to top Pool A before a pair of playoff wins over the most familiar of opponents.
In the quarterfinal, Team Bachek edged the Okotoks Curling Club’s Team Padget 9-2 and in the semifinal got by Team Sipka, who happen to have Kesler’s younger sister Kingsley at second, by a 4-3 score.
“It was definitely special playing that Okotoks team, that game meant a little bit more,” said Bachek. “And then against my sister, that’s a game I didn’t really want to lose, you want to win even more.”
Team Padget, which features skip Callie Padget, third Ellie Scheller, second Izzy Poland and lead Taylor Hay, and Sipka both had strong weeks with 4-2 records in pool play.
Coach Bachek said the goal when the team was constructed two years ago was to take home a provincial title in year two and it hit that milestone in its 100th game together.
The initial season saw considerable success as well, highlighted by a gold medal at the 2024 Alberta Winter Games, but the team came in hardened in year two and challenged itself with a number of U18 competitions in 2024-25.
“I think that really helped us get ready for what the grind is really like,” he said. “We upped our practices and intensity at practices. We knew with 21 games that there was going to be a lot of games to play and that was one of our advantages.
“We knew that we had stamina to go the distance and one of the things about our team is we just never give up.”
