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They put forth a strong effort, but the juvenile boys division curling team from the 100 Mile Curling Club will not be representing Zone 8 at the 2012 BC Winter Games in Vernon.
The Aidan Fentiman rink, with Jon McLellan, Jacob Fischer and Mathew Nielsen won two and lost two games at zone play downs in Fraser Lake, Dec. 2-4.
It left them in second place, but a trip to the Games was reserved for the first-place team only.
100 Mile opened the tournament with a tight game that resulted in a loss to one of three Fraser Lake teams competing in the event. The final score in that game came down to the last rock, thrown by Fraser Lake. "Their skip had to make his last shot to win, and he did it," says Maxine Todhunter, 100 Mile House coach.
100 Mile won their next two games against the other Fraser Lake teams and bypassed having to play the Prince George rink.
Their final shot at taking the tournament came in a game with the Fraser Lake team, which beat them earlier and 100 Mile struggled, says Todhunter.
"They lost and they were feeling pretty down for a while but then realized they did really well overall. They were in the competition every step of the way."
She adds it was a very tiring weekend, due in part to a 40-minute commute they had from Vanderhoof to the Fraser Lake curling rink each day. Other events in Fraser Lake had all accommodations booked in the town, forcing the curlers to look elsewhere.
A late Saturday night draw and a 6 a.m. game on Sunday took its toll on her boys, says Todhunter.
"I'm very proud of them. They've come such a long way this year.
"They haven't had much competition experience and haven't played much on different ice. They still have to learn how to adapt to conditions."