The game that clinched the gold medal for the Zone 4 junior male curling team at the Alberta Winter Games came down to the very last rock.
Ty Parcels, 15, is a curler from Penhold and threw the rock that won his team the tournament.
"I ended up having to draw to the button," he said. Throwing only the second draw of his career, he said he wasn't even sure what his draw weight was.
"I was really just guessing on that," he said.
Parcels skipped the Zone 4 team, with Mackenzie Duffin of Delburne playing lead, Rylan Gray throwing second and Caleb Boorse playing third.
The team had no way to know they'd be medalling gold after not even having to compete to represent Zone 4 at the Alberta Winter Games in Spruce Grove, Stony Plain and Parkland County Feb. 10 to 12.
"We kind of got a freebie," Parcels said of the lack of competition in the zone.
The teens defeated the Zone 2 team to get their win after playing five games in the tournament. There were eight zones competing in the 16 and under junior male curling event.
Coming up to the tournament the team moved from practising two or three times a week to practising five times a week.
The boys had an early upset after losing the second game of the tournament but kept a positive attitude.
"I didn't feel like we lost Ö and then we just kept on winning," Parcels said.
Parcels started curling when he was about seven but came back to it competitively last year.
"I'm pretty surprised how far I came," he said. While he'd been considering stopping curling, his team's big win has him rethinking his participation in the sport.
"I think I got to do it a couple more years," he said.
The quartet curls out of the Red Deer Curling Club under coach Joel Carlos, who said this was the first year all four played together.
Carlos said his strategy for the team was to "keep it to the basics."
While he said Parcels' last rock was nearly perfect, he said the most important rock Parcels threw was the one where the young skip put a hole in a "wall" of rocks.
"With his first rock he eliminated about two to three rocks," Carlos said.
"It was the best way to win a championship."
Talking to Parcels after the game, Carlos said he could tell the "keep it to the basics" attitude had worn off on the boys.
"They never really thought about the pressure," Carolos said.
Both the coach and the players were surprised at their win.
"Very surprised," Gray said, a sentiment echoed by Parcels who said he was still in shock.
The team enjoyed the whole experience of going to the Alberta Winter Games as well.
"There's good competition," said Boorse.
