Two Cochrane High curling teams medalled at the ASAA high school provincial curling championship.

The Ky Macaulay mixed rink brought home the school's first provincial mixed curling banner. The Cinnamon rink medalled for the third consecutive year, following up on two consecutive provincial titles with a silver medal finish.

A veteran curler at 16, Macaulay says the team was all in when facing the defending champion Barrhead team in a tight final that went into an extra end.

"The last end, I made him draw the pin, and he made it," says Macaulay in a brief account of the finish. "The ninth end (extra end), he gave me the same shot, and I drew the pin. Both skips were drawing like crazy.

"It was a team game. The sweepers had the involvement, too. It wasn't just the skips drawing shot-after-shot. It was a team making every shot. It was the front end setting up each shot, and our team came out on top."

Earlier in the bonspiel, the Macaulay rink had to surrender in the seventh end to Barrhead. From that loss, they gained a wealth of experience. 

Going into that final, Macaulay, who has a wealth of experience in high-level curling, encouraged his team to stay calm.

"To calm them down I told them it was just another game, If we lose, we get silver. If we win, we get gold. We've already medalled, so treat it like just another game and play with everything you've got."

The rink travelled with two spares, one male, one female. On the Macaulay rink was Max Cinnamon, Maddie Dee, Tyler Benjamin, Kale Morris, and Meaghan Heppner.

It was Heppner's rink that Macaulay beat in the zone final to earn the berth into the provincials  Within a day of that loss, the grade 12 student was invited to join the team. Macaulay and Heppner, both long-time curlers, have had a friendly rivalry for years, and this marks the first time they've competed together.

The win is a memorable send-off from high school curling for Heppner. She played third in five of the six games. In the last two, she held the broom so Macauley could use his sweeping prowess to help sweep the rocks of the lead and second.

"Everybody was doing a bit of everything," he says.

The rest of the team is made up of grade 11 students.

"So, we're all going hard next year, and try to take home double gold."

He hopes bringing the first mixed team banner home for Cochrane High will encourage others to join the curling community.

"For us, it's just pretty crazy being the first. We're trying to get more involved in the sport because not many people think curling is as interesting or complex as it is.

Now he hopes students will see three curling banners are hanging in the gymnasium, and consider trying the sport.

The Zoe Cinnamon women's rink appeared in their third final in as many years. Cinnamon leaves high school curling with an impressive record. Gold went to a Wainwright rink.

On her rink were Keeley Isinghood, Paige Reux, Marisa Mueller, and Teaghen Duffee.

The Cooper rink from St. Timothy High School won the Calgary City Championship to advance to the provincials. It's the second consecutive year the high school has represented the Calgary zone.

On the Cooper rink were Julianna MacKenzie, Brooke Mackie, Erin Schoombee, and Taylor Ness.