Victory belongs to a team of young curlers based out of 黑马磁力.
Team BC (a.k.a. Team Tardi) has won the Canadian junior curling championship in Quebec late this afternoon, this despite skip Tyler Tardi being plagued by illness for much of the competition.
This is the second time in as many years that the local boys have earned this title, and admittedly earlier this week it didn鈥檛 seem possible.
It鈥檚 the second time around, but that didn鈥檛 make it any less sweet for Cloverdale boys Tyler Tardi (skip) and his older brother Jordan, along with vice-skip and third Sterling Middleton of Burnaby (via Fort St. John) and the newest team member Zac Curtis of Coquitlam. The team plays out of the 黑马磁力 Curling Centre.
The local team won 8-4 against the Northern Ontario鈥檚 team skipped by Tanner Horgan.
They鈥檙e off to Scotland in March for the world junior championships, with what coach Paul Tardi (Dad) said is some unfinished business to take care of.
There, Tardi will be looking to improve on a fifth-place finish at the 2017 World Juniors in Gangneung, South Korea 鈥� an event Tardi entered with higher expectations.
Tyler and crew will aim to meet those expectations this time around with three-quarters of his 2017 team intact 鈥� Curtis is the newcomer, replacing the aged-out Nick Meister.
鈥淒efinitely some unfinished business,鈥� said Tardi, who joins Manitoba鈥檚 Braden Calvert (2014, 2015), Alberta鈥檚 Charley Thomas (2006, 2007), Ontario鈥檚 John Morris (1998, 1999), and Saskatchewan teams skipped by Bayne Secord (1954, 1955) and Gary Thode (1951, 1952) as back-to-back Canadian junior men鈥檚 champions.
鈥淥ur last round-robin game (last year in Gangneung), if we won we were in the page one-two game, but we lost (9-8 in an extra end to Scotland) and we were in the tiebreaker (losing 8-7 to Norway). Losing that game was pretty devastating, to say the least. So we鈥檙e pretty excited to go back and try to bring it home this time.鈥�
The B.C. team, which was one loss away from being eliminated on Friday morning before stealing a victory over Northern Ontario in its final round-robin game, went on to win a playoff tiebreaker later Friday over Karsten Sturmay of Alberta, and then the men鈥檚 semifinal on Saturday against Manitoba鈥檚 JT Ryan.
It carried that momentum into the gold-medal game, stealing single points in the first two ends after Horgan misses, then forcing Northern Ontario to a single in the third and then scoring the game鈥檚 first deuce in the fourth on an open takeout.
And from then on, it was air-tight play from B.C. that kept Northern Ontario from generating the offence that was necessary to cut into the lead.
After Northern Ontario was forced to one in the sixth, B.C. blanked the seventh end, and Tardi delivered the decisive blow with his inturn draw through a narrow port to score three for an insurmountable 7-2 lead.
鈥淲e had a long road to take to get to where we are right now; I still don鈥檛 believe it,鈥� said Tardi. 鈥淚鈥檓 still in shock from last season, let alone two in a row. I鈥檓 really proud of the way the boys have been working.鈥�
Northern Ontario hadn鈥檛 played a game since the loss to B.C. on Friday morning, and that game inactivity played a role in the slow start, suggested Horgan.
鈥淔or sure, it was tough. The ice changed a lot; I mean, we鈥檙e supposed to read that and we鈥檙e supposed to adapt, and you can鈥檛 ask for much more than going into the final with hammer. We got two practices on it and we just didn鈥檛 adapt properly,鈥� said Horgan, who also collected silver at this event in 2016 at Stratford, Ont., and bronze a year ago in Victoria, and admitted to some frustration at the near-misses. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be that guy who makes two or three finals and never gets it.鈥�
The B.C. team will head to Scotland looking for Canada鈥檚 leading 19th gold medal at the world juniors, and first since Braden Calvert鈥檚 gold in 2015 at Tallinn, Estonia.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely going to take some extra fine-tuning in the next few weeks,鈥� said Tardi, whose team added Manitoba third Jacques Gauthier 鈥� the Tardi brothers鈥� cousin 鈥� as an alternate for the trip to the World Juniors.
鈥淭ry to fix as much as we can, and try to peak at the right time and hopefully we can do the country proud.鈥�
It was B.C.鈥檚 sixth men鈥檚 gold medal at the New Holland Canadian juniors.
The 2019 New Holland Canadian Juniors will take place in Prince Albert, Sask.
