"This was a huge deal for us."

That statement was true, most certainly, as Erik Limarilli referenced the regular season title that the Lasalle Lancers "B" rink that included skip Jake Crawford, vice-skip Vivienne Bolestridge and lead Quentin Hallock captured in winning eight of nine games over the course of the winter.

It's even more true as the team that features a complete foursome of grade nine talent now makes their way to the 2025 OFSAA Curling Championships in Sarnia from March 19th to March 22nd.

Ideally, the super-young crew that will add alternate Caitlyn Connors (grade 10) from the Lasalle "A" team to the fold for provincials will look upon the upcoming tournament as a wonderful experience quite early into their high-school careers.

Certainly, some breaks have gone their way.

Finishing first in regular season play allowed the Lancers to earn a berth at NOSSA last week in Sault Ste Marie, even though they were beaten in the SDSSAA semi-finals by the Collège Notre-Dame Alouettes (who went on to claim the city banner).

Likewise, at NOSSA, the Lancers enjoyed an outstanding run, defeating the Algonquin Barons (13-2), the Central Algoma Huskies (8-4), the Superior Heights Steelhawks (11-0) and the Korah Colts (6-4), earning a berth in the final opposite the Chippewa Ravens.

But with the bulk of that Chippewa team also forming the roster of one of the two NOCA (Northern Ontario Curling Association) boys entries that will begin play at the Canadian U-20 Championships in Prince Edward Island on March 23rd, Lasalle knew their ticket to OFSAA was punched before throwing a stone versus Chippewa.

A 9-1 loss to the Ravens may have denied them a NOSSA banner, but not the chance to face some of the best (and much older) high-school curlers in Ontario.

"They ended putting us all together (at the beginning of the year) because we were all around the same age and we all had a little bit of experience," said Limarilli, who is now roughly three years into the games and practices that he tackles at the Coniston Curling Club.

"I think we had the confidence that we thought we could do well."

That may have been tested, at least a touch, with the unexpected bump in the road in the single day event that is SDSSAA playoff curling.

"We were a little bit nervous (for NOSSA) because we ended up losing in the city semi-finals," said Limarilli. "We focused on just trying to do our best."

Trailing 4-1 after three ends versus Korah, the Lancers fought back to claim the win and now joining the Korah girls team that captured the NOSSA banner with a 10-5 win over the West Ferris Trojans from Thunder Bay.

Accompanying Lasalle to the northern playdowns were, from Sudbury, the Collège Notre-Dame boys (0-3), the city champion Marymount Regals girls team (3-0 in pool play; beaten 8-5 by Korah in SF) and the Collège Notre-Dame girls team (3-0 in pool play; beaten 7-6 in an extra end by West Ferris).

Also joining Lasalle at OFSAA will be Lancers' curling coaches Dave Connors and Corinne Yantha.