NEWS PHOTO SEAN ROONEY Karsten Sturmay releases a shot during the seventh end of the Hat Charity Classic curling bonspiel final Monday, Oct. 21, 2019 at the Medicine Hat Curling Club while teammates Jason Ginter and Glenn Vanance sweep.
With the women’s final played a day earlier at the Hat Charity Classic, and officials and fans on the other side of the glass at the Medicine Hat Curling Club, it was just eight guys, their brooms and some granite on the ice Monday afternoon.
So when Karsten Sturmay got set in the hack for his last rock, you could pretty much hear him breathe from the other T-line.
“It’s definitely a different perspective,” said the Edmonton skip. “We were in Russia in March playing in front of 3,500 people (recently).
“It’s just a different kind of pressure when you’re out here by yourself, right? You feel isolated. The silence is eerie sometimes.”
Sturmay, his team tied with Manitoba’s Jason Gunnlaugson and facing a stone in the four-foot, could practically hear himself think. But the 22-year-old made no mistake in earning the 5-4 win and the $10,000 first prize.
It’s the biggest tour win ever for the team including third Tristan Steinke, second Jason Ginter and lead Glenn Vanance.
“It’s really huge for us,” said Sturmay, who skipped a University of Alberta team to a U Sports title and then a silver medal at the Winter Universiade in Russia this past year. “We’ve won smaller (World Curling Tour events) before but this is one of our bigger WCT wins, so we’re really happy about that.
“The boys had an awesome week. We got better with each game, we really grew on the stuff we needed to improve on and I’m so excited to be able to celebrate with them.”
Calgary’s Kayla Skrilk made a clutch double takeout Sunday for her team’s 5-4 championship win over the Chinese team skipped by Meini Wang. Skrilk, third Lindsay Makichuk, second Brittany Tan and lead Hope Sunley picked up a $3,500 cheque for the win in a 12-team draw, plus valuable rankings points.
As for Sturmay’s last shot, it was far less complicated. The hard part came in the seventh end, when he faced a handful of guards and the potential of Gunnlaugson scoring five.
Instead, a smart draw and a missed final shot by the Manitoba team limited the damage to two and a 4-4 tie coming home.
“We played a beautiful end, got a little bit of a break and we had a chance,” said Gunlaugson, whose chance was set up in part by a nice takeout by third Alex Forrest. “Karsten made a beautiful one on his last but still gave us a chance for five, more likely three to get control back… Just a little off.”
It was still another good showing for Gunlaugson in the 28-team men’s draw, following a pair of wins already this season. They went 6-2 in Medicine Hat, the other loss to Sturmay Saturday night.
“It was a good week, just always sucks to come on the (losing end),” said the skip. “But no, we played very well. We did a lot of the things we have to do to win games against elite competition. It was a heck of a good time.”
Bonspiel organizer Vicki Sjole said the Classic raised approximately $5,000 in its 25th year for the Children’s Wish Foundation. That, said Sturmay, is a great aspect of coming to the Gas City over and above the valuable rankings points.
“It’s a fantastic event every year and for a really good cause too,” he said. “It’s really cool to have an event of this scale with these really competitive teams, but it still has that charitable focus.”
