More teams are headed to Victoria
A total of 11 junior teams have qualified for the 2020 BC Junior Curling Championships.
Playdown qualification events took place at Kerry Park Curling Club, at Chilliwack Curling Club and at Oliver Curling Club, with all events wrapping up over the weekend (Nov. 30-Dec.1).
Qualifiers have earned the opportunity to travel to Victoria for the 2020 BC Junior Curling Championships. The provincials take place from Dec. 28, 2019, to Jan. 2, 2020. Visit https://www.curlbc.ca/victoria-2020 for event information.
It is an exciting year for BC teams because the top Junior Women’s team and the two top Junior Men’s teams will represent BC at national championships taking place in Langley. The junior men were recently offered that second berth as a result of Nunavut withdrawing from the competition. The New Holland Canadian Junior Curling Championships takes place from Jan. 18-26, 2020, at the George Preston Recreation Centre and Langley Curling Club.
In the Lower Mainland Junior Men’s playdowns, Team Ballard from Langley qualified in the A Event, with Team Carpenter from Tunnel Town winning the B Event and Team Tao from Richmond/Vancouver/Port Moody winning the C Event.
In the Lower Mainland Junior women’s playdowns two teams with connections to Delta qualified. Team Taylor will represent Tunnel Town and Royal City and Team Elizabeth Bowles will represent Delta Thistle and Victoria at provincials at the end of December.
At playdowns in the Okanagan, two Junior Women’s teams from Kamloops qualified. Team Calhoun and Team Hafeli were able to get past last year’s U18 champions, Team Buchy, to secure the spot.
The Junior Men’s Okanagan qualifiers were Team Colwell, from Vernon/Kamloops/Grand Forks. They were also U18 champions in 2019 and finalists at the U21 level as well.
Team Douglas, from Gibsons/Duncan/Victoria curling clubs, won the Junior Women’s A Event at Island playdowns at Kerry Park Curling Club. Meanwhile, Team Richards, who placed second on the BC Junior Curling Tour, were B Event qualifiers. The team from Comox Valley/Port Moody is made up of some of the members of the team that travelled to Red Deer for the Canada Winter Games in 2019.
The sole Junior Men’s team to qualify from Island Playdowns was Team Parkinson, from Nanaimo/Parksville/Comox Valley.
Another Delta Thistle Junior women’s foursome: Sarah Daniels, Sarah Loken, Hannah Lindner and Jordan Henson, took the BC Junior Curling Tour berth when that tour ended at the beginning of November. Team Sato, from Royal City Curling Club, were the Junior Men’s tour winners. The team features skip Hayato Sato, third Matthew McCrady, second Joshua Miki and lead Jacob Umbach.
An open playdown will take place from Dec. 7-8 in Kelowna to determine the final Junior Women’s berth and the final two Junior Men’s berths.
The open playdown results and the Victoria BC championship results will be available at http://playdowns.curlbc.ca/.
Full team rosters of qualifiers over the past weekend:
Team Ballard, Langley
Skip: Dawson Ballard
Third: Rhett Hildenbrandt
Second: Brandon Reimer
Lead: Sam Husdon
Coach: Craig Lepine
Team Carpenter, Tunnel Town
Skip: Brayden Carpenter
Third: Connor Deane
Second: Mack Ellis
Lead: Troy Cowan
Coach: Greg Deane
Team Tao, Richmond/Vancouver/Port Moody
Skip: Johnson Tao
Third: Toby Mills
Second: Connor Kent
Lead: Michael Nunn
Coach: Vic Shimizu
Team Taylor, Tunnel Town/Royal City
Skip: Jensen Taylor
Third: Meredith Cole
Second: Keira McCoy
Lead: Chelsea Taylor
Coach: Chris Summers/Dan Wenzek
Team Bowles, Delta Thistle/Victoria
Skip: Elizabeth Bowles
Third: Kayla Wilson
Second: Hailey Dubois
Lead: Sasha Wilson
Coach: Todd Troyer
Team Calhoun, Kamloops
Skip: Maeve Calhoun
Third: Neave Calhoun
Second: Kate Hancock
Lead: Kaitlyn Garrett
Coach: Nicky Hancock
Team Hafeli, Kamloops
Skip: Holly Hafeli
Third: Hannah O’Neil
Second: Jorja Kopytko
Lead: Natalie Hafeli
Coach: Monica Makar
Team Colwell, Vernon/Kamloops/Grand Forks
Skip: Erik Colwell
Third: Mitchell Kopytko
Second: Ben Morin
Lead: Logan Miron
Coach: Dale Hofer/Chad Kopytko
Team Douglas, Gibsons/Duncan/Victoria
Skip: Rebecca Douglas
Third: Brooke Reintjes
Second: Delaena Reintjes
Lead: Bella Higdon
Coach: Dave Douglas
Team Richards, Comox Valley/Port Moody
Skip: Gracelyn Richards
Third: Keelie Duncan
Second: Bryn Woloshyn
Lead: Kate Eisner
Coach: Darren Richards/Adam Duncan
Team Parkinson, Nanaimo/Parksville/Comox Valley
Skip: Chris Parkinson
Third: Matthew Davies
Second: Christian Klein-Beekman
Lead: Connor Litton
Coach: Bob Franklin