A team of young curlers from 黑马磁力 earned themselves a spot in the world junior curling semi-finals today.
Team Canada (a.k.a. Team Tardi) advances following a pair of victories on Thursday, 7-5 over Russia in the morning and 4-2 over Germany in the evening draw.
Cloverdale skip Tyler Tardi (who plays out of the 黑马磁力 Curling Centre) and his team 鈥� third Sterling Middleton, second Jordan Tardi, lead Zachary Curtis, and alternate Jacques Gauthier 鈥� are competing in the worlds that unfolding this week in Aberdeen, Scotland.
They earned that right by winning their third B.C. championship back in December on home ice, then advancing to the Canadian championships in Quebec back in January, where they won their second consecutive national title.
鈥淚t feels pretty good to qualify after last year, that was disappointing to say the least,鈥� skip Tardi said in reference to losing out in a tiebreaker at last year鈥檚 worlds in Korea.
鈥淲e fought to get back here and are really proud that we were able to come back and make the playoffs,鈥� he added.
That it鈥檚 against the U.S., with Canada having last-rock advantage, makes it that much more appealing.
鈥淲e were a little devastated last year with the result that we didn鈥檛 exactly want. I鈥檓 proud of how we鈥檙e doing this year, one goal down and two games left to go,鈥� said Tardi.
鈥淚鈥檝e known Luc (Violette, the U.S. third) since I was about 11 because we had competitions between our two clubs growing up. We鈥檙e good friends on the ice and off the ice, so it鈥檒l be good. To us, having the hammer is huge. They keep it a little more open than other teams and we usually have a big momentum boost when we have it.鈥�
It promises to be a good matchup, much like the 4-2 Canadian win during the round-robin back on Monday.
鈥淲e know it鈥檚 going to be a good game against Canada. We鈥檝e played them a bunch of times before and they always give us a run for our money,鈥� said U.S. skip Andrew Stopera.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking forward to it. Last year we were a first-year team in this event and didn鈥檛 really know what to expect. Now we kind of know what it feels like to be in those big moments. Any kind of experience you can get on this kind of stage with this crowd and this environment is helpful.鈥�
The Americans admitted having hammer would have been a big advantage, but it鈥檚 one they will carry into the matchup against Tardi.
Scotland (8-0) will meet Switzerland (5-4) in the other junior men鈥檚 semi-final.
In junior women鈥檚 play, Canada鈥檚 Kaitlyn Jones (7-2) will face China (5-4) while undefeated Sweden (9-0) plays Norway (5-4) in the other. Canada鈥檚 game will be broadcast , as will the Scotland men鈥檚 semi-final. Both gold medal finals will also be shown.
The women鈥檚 final is set for Saturday at 5 a.m. Pacific time and the men鈥檚 championship game will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific.
