Boys and girls teams from Sexsmith Curling Club celebrate qualifying for the Arctic Winter Games. Featured in the picture are Cortland Sonnenberg, Owen Fenske, Jaxon Hibert and Adam Elsenheimer (L to R) from the boy's team. Featured on the girl's team is Hayden Young, Brooke Bozarth, Brylee Girard, and Lola Rasi. Photo Credit: Sexsmith Curling Club

By Shane Clausing

arctic winter games

Curling teams from Sexsmith qualify for 2020 Arctic Winter Games

Jan 20, 2020 | 3:34 PM

Two teams from the Sexsmith Curling Club have qualified for the 2020 Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse, Yukon.

The two teams qualified in Fairview this past weekend. The qualifier included three boys and girls teams from Peace River, Fort McMurray, and Sexsmith.

The boy’s team is coached by Les Sonnenberg and includes Cortland Sonnenberg, Owen Fenske, Jaxon Hiebert, and Adam Elsenheimer.

The girl’s team is coached by Jen Bozarth and includes Hayden Young, Brooke Bozarth, Brylee Girard, and Lola Rasi.

For coach Sonnenberg, this is the second time that his team has gone to the Arctic Winter Games. The last time they went was two years ago when the team surprised themselves and qualified for the tournament. That year the boy’s team won the gold medal at the games.

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“The level of competition is pretty good. You’re playing the best teams in the North. We expect the games there to be challenging to us and we’re looking forward to the opportunity to compete,” said Les Sonnenberg.

Alaska, Alberta North, Greenland, Northwest Territories, Nunavik-Quebec, Nunavut, Sapmi (Northern Europe), Yamal (Russia), and Yukon will all send curlers to the Arctic Winter Games.

“The games real push is for sportsmanship, culture and to mingle and meet new people from other delegations. We don’t look at it so much as a curling event. It’s pretty special and we’re blessed to have the opportunity to be part of something that’s bigger than the game of curling. All we do is go to curling events and this is like a mini northern Olympics,” added Coach Sonnenberg.

The Arctic Winter Games see over 2000 athletes compete in 43 different competitions over six days of competition. This year’s games will take place from March 15 to March 21 in Whitehorse, Yukon.