Eight Ends: Future is now for Canadian juniors
The stars of tomorrow are on their way to the Canadian junior curling championships, running Jan. 23-31 in Stratford, Ont. The winners will don the red and white representing Canada at the world juniors stage March 5-13 in Erzurum, Turkey.
A bonus for this year’s world junior champs is they will receive invites to the all-new Champions Cup event, the seventh and final stop of the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season.
Several provinces hosted their junior championships this past week and our Eight Ends blog shines the spotlight on those sure-to-be future Grand Slam teams.
1st End: Manitoba
Matt Dunstone is making his way back to nationals.
The 2013 Manitoba junior champion — who also captured the Canadian junior title and world junior bronze medal that year — completed a perfect 9-0 run at provincials including a 7-4 win over Derek Oryniak during Sunday’s final to reclaim the title.
Dunstone’s team features third Colton Lott, second Kyle Doering and lead Robbie Gordon. The Winnipeg native Dunstone made his Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling series debut last month at the Meridian Canadian Open getting the chance to play with reigning Brier champs Team Simmons by filling in for second Carter Rycroft.
Double defending Manitoba and Canadian junior champ Braden Calvert fell to Oryniak in the page 3 vs. 4 playoff.
Abby Ackland topped Laura Burtnyk 7-5 to win the Manitoba junior women’s title.
The Winnipeg-based Team Ackland includes third Robyn Njegovan, second Melissa Gordon and lead Sara Oliver.
2nd End: Northern Ontario
It’s a three-peat for Tanner Horgan.
Horgan and his Copper Cliff Curling Club crew — featuring third Jacob Horgan, second Nicholas Bissonnette and lead Maxime Blais — cruised through the Northern Ontario juniors posting an 8-0 record capped with a 6-3 win over Josh Vanderburg in the final.
The Horgan brothers are the younger siblings of reigning Northern Ontario women’s champions Tracy Fleury and Jenn Horgan. Fleury explained what it’s like growing up with a curling family in our GSOC Spotlight video.
Fellow Sudbury native Megan Smith defeated Krysta Burns 8-4 for the junior women’s title.
Team Smith includes third Kira Brunton, second Kate Sherry and lead Emma Johnson.
3rd End: Alberta
The year just started but we already have a “shot of the year” candidate courtesy of Alberta junior women’s champion Selena Sturmay.
Sturmay made an incredible runback double in the 10th end of the final to edge Kayla Skrlik 6-5 for the title.
The Airdrie-based Team Sturmay features third Dacey Brown, second Megan Moffat and lead Hope Sunley. Sturmay finished the tournament with an 8-0 record and follows in the footsteps of Kelsey Rocque, the back-to-back Canadian and world junior champion from Alberta who moved up to the pro ranks this season.
It was a double win for the Sturmay family with Selena’s brother Karsten Sturmay scoring a 7-4 victory over Jeremy Harty to earn his second consecutive Alberta junior men’s title.
His Edmonton team includes third Tristan Steinke, second Chris Kennedy and lead Caleb Boorse.
4th End: Newfoundland and Labrador
Greg Smith and his Stephenville-based team will represent Newfoundland and Labrador again with a 7-6 extra end win over Stephen Trickett in the junior men’s final.
While Smith rolled through the field a year ago finishing with a perfect record, his team struggled a bit out of the gate starting 1-2 before winning four straight to recapture the title.
Team Smith — featuring third Ryan McNeil Lamswood, second Kyle Barron and lead Craig Laing — made their Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling debut earlier this season in the Tier 2 division of the Tour Challenge.
Joining Team Smith from The Rock will be Brooke Godsland, who scored a 9-8 win over Sarah Hill in the junior women’s final.
The St. John’s team includes Godsland, third Meghan Kearley, second Gabby Molloy and lead Michelle Taylor.
5th End: Saskatchewan
Kourtney Fesser completed a perfect 7-0 run through the Saskatchewan junior women’s tournament with an 8-3 victory Brooke Tokarz 8-3 in the all-Saskatoon rink final.
Joining Fesser at nationals are third Karlee Korchinski, second Krista Fesser and lead Renelle Humphreys.
Jake Hersikorn also went 7-0 after topping Rylan Kleiter 5-4 in the Saskatchewan junior men’s final to successfully defend the title. The Saskatoon-based Team Hersikorn includes third Brady Kendel, second Anthony Neufeld and lead Nicklas Neufeld.
6th End: Ontario
Courtney Auld took the Ontario Pepsi Junior Women’s title with a 7-5 victory over Kirsten Marshall in Sunday’s final.
The Toronto-based Team Auld includes third Thea Coburn, second Jessica Humphries and lead Kaelyn Gregory.
Doug Kee defeated defending champ Mac Calwell 10-3 to win the Ontario junior men’s title.
The Ottawa-based Team Kee (8-0) features third Jason Camm, second Matthew Hall and lead Curtis Easter.
7th End: Quebec
Laurie St-Georges scored two points in the extra end in order to edge Dominique Jean 8-6 and take the Quebec junior women’s title.
The Laval-based Team St-Georges includes third Cynthia St-Georges, second Meaghan Rivett and lead Emily Riley.
Felix Asselin earned his fourth trip to nationals after successfully defending his title with a 9-5 victory over Vincent Roberge in the Quebec junior men’s final.
Asselin won back-to-back provincial titles in 2012 and 2013 and his Montreal-based team features third Nick den Hartog, second Maxence Martel and lead Emile Asselin.
Both Team St-Georges (7-0) and Team Asselin (8-0) finished with unblemished records.
8th End: Chart attack
Rounding up all of the action, plus those who had qualified earlier, here are teams set to compete at the 2016 Canadian junior curling championships: