It was a little 鈥渨eird鈥� for Nick Meister to sit upstairs in the curling rink lounge and watch his long-time friends and former teammates threw rock after rock on home ice during day one of the provincial junior curling championships.
It was almost surreal, he said of being a spectator at a competition he鈥檇 previously played in as a member of 黑马磁力鈥檚 Team Tardi.
鈥淚t was a little bit weird at the beginning,鈥� he said of watching instead of playing with Tyler and Jordan Tardi and Sterling Middleton.
For the past two years, in fact, Meister was instrumental in that team securing gold at both this provincial championship, as well as at the junior national level last year.
Meister, however, has since aged out of the junior league, and has consequently moved on to a new competitive men鈥檚 team.
He鈥檚 since been replaced on Team Tardi by lead Zachary Curtis.
So now, Meister鈥檚 proximity to this year鈥檚 junior curlers is quite different. It鈥檚 restricted to that of a part-time spectator and full-time ice maker for at the rink.
The 2017-18 Boston Pizza BC Junior Men鈥檚 and Women鈥檚 Curling Championship kicked off Monday at the George Preston Recreation Centre, and concludes Saturday.
In the three days leading up this competition, Meister spent endless hours on the rink, re-flooded, smoothing, scraped, polished, and pebbling the ice in preparation for this latest series of curling battles.
Surveying the ice from the lounge, Meister said he and the rest of the maintenance team are pleased with how the ice is running, thus far in the competition.
鈥淚t looks like it鈥檚 holding up very well鈥� it鈥檚 still pretty fast,鈥� he said half-way through day one.
He and others on the ice crew will be on hand early each morning through until late each evening ensuring quality ice for the event.
As for his former teammates and ongoing friends, Meister said he hopes 鈥渢hey do well.鈥�
He鈥檚 still anxious to see them triumph at this year鈥檚 juniors, even if he鈥檚 no longer sporting the Team Tardi uniform any longer.
When it comes to competing against them at the men鈥檚 level, however, all bets are off, Meister said with a bit of a chuckle.
Already this season he鈥檚 found himself playing against Team Tardi a couple times at bonspiels 鈥� and friendship or no, he smiled and said he鈥檚 going to continue to give it his all in an effort to win 鈥� and he expects nothing less from them.
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Day one on the ice
The junior provincial competition, being hosted by Curl BC and 黑马磁力 Curling Centre, features eight men鈥檚 teams and eight women鈥檚 teams.
In day one of play, 黑马磁力鈥檚 Team Tardi is 1-1, losing 9-5 to Team Ballard (New Westminster and Coquitlam) Monday afternoon, and winning 8-5 against Team Silva (Cloverdale and Abbotsford) that same afternoon.
Team Tardi is one of two local teams competing in the junior provincial championships at 黑马磁力 Curling Centre this week.
They鈥檙e joined by Team Royea, headed up by skip Everly Royea.
The local women鈥檚 team lost its sole game Monday. They fell to Team Daniels (New Westminster and Delta) by a score of 8-1.
鈥淵ou have all worked extremely hard to get here. I want to commend you all for the time and devotion you have put forth in your journey to the provincials,鈥� organizing committee chair and curling rink manager Robyn Parkes said to competitors from around B.C.
鈥淲e are extremely proud and excited for all of the participants and want to wish everyone the best of luck in the week of competition,鈥� she added.
