Women’s Superspiel won by Korean juniors

The familiar shouts of “hurry hard,” and “woah,” on the curling ice were replaced by Korean exclamations at the 2024 Dekalb Superspiel finals Nov. 24.

It was an all- South Korean match-up in the women’s final of the annual Morris bonspiel, as team Eun-jung Kim (the world number six and 2018 Olympic silver medalist) took on a juniors team in the Bobae Kang rink, with the younger team coming out on top in a tight 4-1 victory after forcing a desperation multi-rock raise in the eighth and final end.

“The fact we met Team Kim in the final was definitely something, because we’ve never actually beat them in domestic events, so it really meant a lot to us,” Kang said through translator and fellow South Korean curler Min Lee after the event.

The 19-year-old Kang showed good patience in the first few ends. With few rocks in play, it was a pair of blanks to start the game, before a missed Team Kim takeout led to a steal of one in the third for Kang.

The junior slipped a rock behind two Kim guards, and the more experienced skip went for a risky runback to keep the hammer, but the attempt slipped by, giving the early edge to Kang.

“As a younger team, when our teamwork spikes, that’s when our performance heads through the roof,” Kang said.

“I think we were able to achieve that in the finals.”

Kang kept up the pressure in the fourth, sinking a pair of rocks around a centre-line guard to eventually force Kim to a single.

The fifth finally saw plenty of rocks in play, with both teams placing three rocks in the house before any skip’s stones were thrown. Kang’s first was perfectly placed, tapping her own back to lie two buried biting the button.

Kim responded with a tap-back of her own to lie one, but Kang was once again equal to the challenge, nabbing the first multi-point end of the game to take a 3-1 lead into the sixth.

After a couple more blanks, Kim went all out to generate a multi-point end in the eighth, managing to clutter up the house, but a hail-Mary multi-rock raise went wide, giving the youngsters a memorable victory.

Team Kang is staying in Southeast Manitoba while preparing for more Canadian events, practicing out of Lorette this week.

The men’s final came down to Braden Calvert rink against Brett Walter. Calvert curls out of the Fort Rouge Curling Club, and lost Manitoba final last season, while Walter is out of the Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club.

Calvert took control early, posting a three to the scoreboard with the hammer despite playing around a centre-guard, powering his way to a 7-4 victory.

“Team Walter played well and made us earn it, and we’re pretty happy to win a prestigious event like this,” Calvert said.

The draw to score three touched a guard but settled into the four foot to give the Fort Rouge team the early advantage, which they were able to carry into the final end, before a slash double clinched a victory by running their opposition out of rocks.

“We knew we probably had to get really close to (the guard), and if we had perfect weight and nicked it, it would probably help us,” Calvert said, recalling the key shot of the first end.

Walter managed to nab a deuce in the second, and after fireworks to start the game, it calmed down with a pair of blanks.

Calvert would strike again in the fifth end, nabbing a deuce of his own to restore the three-point lead. Walter stayed alive with a second two-point end after Calvert missed a thin double-takeout which may have clinched the game in the sixth.

Walter was able to generate a good end, with rocks in play to avoid a blank, but gave up another deuce in the seventh, paving the way for Calvert to play a clean eighth and take home the trophy.

“(With) this five-rock rule, you try to be a little cautious and conservative and you give them a couple cheaper deuces being conservative, but we knew we couldn’t’ give up three,” Calvert said.

“We had to keep control of the game and that’s what we did.”

The winners of the Dekalb Superspiel take home $10,000 of a total $30,000 purse in both the men’s and women’s events.