The Olds College Broncos curling teams had good results during the fall regional Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference bonspiel from November 22 to 24 in Camrose, according to coach Barb Dixon.
The men's and women's rinks ended the bonspiel with 2-3 records while the mixed team ended the tournament with a 3-1 record. The men lost 9-3 to Lakeland College, 12-3 to NAIT, 5-4 to Grande Prairie Regional College, beat Red Deer College 6-2 and beat Concordia University College 10-3. The women lost 6-4 to Lakeland, 7-1 to NAIT, 7-4 to Grande Prairie, beat Red Deer 8-5 and beat Concordia 8-6. The mixed rink beat Lakeland 9-6, Augustana 8-3, lost 9-5 to NAIT and beat Portage College 9-1. Because of an ice plant problem during the bonspiel, the men's and women's rinks both have one game to make up at the winter regional bonspiel in Edmonton from Jan. 30 to Feb. 2, 2014, while the mixed rink has two games to make up.
Dixon said because each of the curlers on all the teams has their fundamentals down, strategy is the one area in which improvement could be made.
“Coming from high school curling into college curling, (college) is a bit more competitive, there's a lot more strategy,” she said.
While each rink at each of the bonspiels plays about seven games over three or four days, Dixon said because each of the Broncos' players has been curling for several years, they have gotten used to the intensity of a bonspiel and aren't really fazed by the demands a competition places on them.
“They're used to it and they're prepared for it,” she said.
