A local recreational bowling squad is looking to hit all strikes this weekend, as they head eastward for a national tournament.  

The foursome of Lindsay Curties, Carey Carter, Gord Young, and Jeff Horsnall, along with their coach Doug Gillett will be heading to Thunder Bay, ON, on Wednesday for the 2023 Inter-Provincial Championships.  

They will be one of two Saskatchewan representatives at this two-day tournament, which kicks off on Friday and finishes on Saturday.  

“It’s pretty impressive,” says team spokesperson, Lindsay Curties. “Some of us weren’t bowlers before this and some of us have been bowling our whole life. So, it’s kind of neat how your life turns around and goes hey I’m going to represent Saskatchewan. We have green jerseys with gold wheat sheets and our names are brightly plastered across the back and represent our province in a national tournament.” 

Lindsay Bowling 2.jpg A photo of their official Saskatchewan jerseys the team will be sporting at the 2023 Inter-Provincial Championships on Friday and Saturday. Photo submitted by Lindsay Curties. 

Their road to nationals started all the way back in December, as each team member qualified as an individual, which created the Moose Jaw-based squad. 

Once the team was formed, they competed in a provincial tournament in February. They had to take down eight different provincial zones to be crowned the Saskatchewan champions and book their ticket to the national event.  

The tournament format is called fun bowling, which is different from standard pinfall bowling.  

“Fun-bowling is based on averages,” adds Curties. “If my average is 100 and yours 200 and you bowl a 201 and I bowl a 110, I win that point. Each player gets one point for their win and the team gets two points for a win. At the end of the round, the team with the most points wins.” 

Pinfall bowling is based on scores and not averages. For example, if you were to score a 250 and your opponent bowled a 175, you would win that game.  

Curties and the Moose Jaw squad will compete in Pool B and go up against teams from Prince Edward Island, Northern Ontario, Northwest Territories, Quebec, Alberta, and Manitoba.  

Their tournament opener is on Friday against Quebec and then they will meet Alberta later that day, and then will finish Day 1 off with a matchup against Prince Edward Island.  

In preparation for this weekend’s event, the team has been practicing about once or twice a week aside from their Thursday night rec league games.  

This inter-provincial tournament wouldn’t have been able to become a reality without the community support the team got from local Moose Jaw businesses.  

“We had some great fundraisers not only from friends and family but the Crushed Can had a Rib Night for us and McKarrs Furniture donated a recliner, which we raffled off. Moose Jaw Bowling gave us some money and the 2020 team that couldn’t go donated some of their funds. We were able to cover our flights and some of our hotels. It was greatly appreciated by everyone that supported us for this tournament.” 

In the end, Curties hopes their success will inspire the next generation to try bowling.  

“It may not seem that exciting but for us, it is a lot of fun and we hope that anyone that hears this story maybe tries out bowling next year.” 

You can keep up to date on how the Moose Jaw squad is doing and find their full schedule HERE.