After months of intense off-season training Team Alexander Keith’s took to the ice last night for their first game of the 2008-09 season.  Wearing new look t-shirts and hats Red Deer’s favorite rec curling team was turning heads in the lobby of the RDCC prior to the start of the game.  “You guys got a new sponsor.  Are you kidding me?” asked Brad Dufresne.  “Unbelievable.  What kind of rec curling team has a team sponsor?” querried Al Parada when he first saw the Alexander Keiths green hats and t-shirts, notably late Parada’s comment came 8 rocks into the first end.  A rivalry renewed saw Team Shelley take to the ice against Team Alexander Keiths. “You guys look good this year, the green is a nice color. St.Patrick’s day is my favorite holiday!”, said Shelley during the customary handshake ritual prior to the start of the game.  The first two ends saw Team Shelly jump out to a 6-0 lead as Team Keiths struggled to find their form.  Lead English commented, “I was just trying not to fall coming out of the hack in the first two ends, that means more to me than getting points at this point.”  Team Keiths came back with 2 points of their own in the 3rd and 4th ends respectively to get close but that was as close as they would get, eventually conceding the game losing 9-4.  

   

Alexander Keiths Speaks: Team Keiths and Team Metzger shared in a pregame meal together, Chicken Neptune was on the menu courtesy of Diane Metzger’s kitchen…Lead English and 2nd G.Zimmerman threw each of their rocks through the house in the 2nd end, that makes it really tough to score points…On multiple occasions Team Keiths had just one sweeper available as the team traded bathroom breaks, too much wine and water during supper?... G.Zimmerman walked away from sheet 7 following the game mumbling, “I should have just stayed and ate the leftover chicken Neptune, that chicken was much better than my game was tonight.”…Team Keiths threw the yellow rocks and may be wearing sunglasses next week to get over the glare coming off the new look rocks…Attendance for Monday night mixed was as high as 8 during the night, and as low as 0, ticket sales are expected to increase as the season continues.  

 

Alexander Keiths Around the Rink:  The first night of the season brought about some early surprises, most notably Team Metzger winning their game in just 4 ends.  “Parada joined us late (as per usual) but made up for it making some great shots and sweeping his heart out for us!”  Joe Metzger told local media in the post game scrum…On sheet 5 Oilers jersey guy was back for another season.  Spectators couldn’t decide if he was smiling all night because he’s happy to be back on the ice curling or if it’s because the Oilers have yet to lose a game.  Unfortunately, at press time the team was still playing and a final score was unavailable…Sheet 6 saw the new look college team make curling look easy as they had little trouble getting a victory.  Much like the new RDC slogan, when you get here you understand, these players showed up at the rink and they understood.  Making everything from double take outs, to bump and runs, to draws to the button they appear to be the team to beat after week one and may be representing Canada at the 2010 Olympics.