The 16-year drought is finally over, thanks to Tyler Tardi and Co.
Team British Columbia claimed its first Canadian Junior Men鈥檚 Curling Championship crown on Sunday afternoon with a 9-7 victory over Ontario鈥檚 Matthew Hall in front of a partisan sa国际传媒 crowd at Archie Browning Sports Centre.
The last time sa国际传媒 came away victors was 2000 when Brad Kuhn led his rink to the win. Previous to that, it was Victoria rinks skipped by Dean Joanisse and Mike Wood that hauled off consecutive national championships in 1988 and 1989.
Tardi, third Sterling Middleton, second Jordan Tardi, lead Nick Meister and coach Paul Tardi join the select group, losing just one game over the nine-day event, which was also held at Esquimalt Curling Club.
The sa国际传媒 crew moves on to the World Junior Championships, Feb. 16-26 in Gangneung, South Korea, donning sa国际传媒鈥檚 colours.
鈥淚鈥檓 getting chills right now. There are literally no words you can possibly say. It鈥檚 a dream I鈥檝e always had and it鈥檚 always seemed so distant. Now that it鈥檚 here, it鈥檚 just an unreal feeling. It鈥檚 pretty spectacular,鈥� said skip Tardi, 18, who set the game on its ear with an emphatic double-takeout to score four in the eighth end.
It came right after Hall got himself back in the game with a deuce in the sixth and a steal of two more in the seventh for a 5-4 lead.
鈥淚 thought it was there for three, for sure,鈥� Tardi said of the shot. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 sure if it would tick our own rock out. I was pretty happy with the result. We definitely needed a momentum swing since they鈥檙e really good when they get the momentum. We really needed to take it back from them.鈥�
It was mission accomplished as the pro-sa国际传媒 crowd erupted after the shot and the chant of, 鈥淲e are sa国际传媒鈥� went up.
Hall bounced back for two in the ninth end to make it 8-7, but Tardi made a hit-and-stick with his last rock in the 10th to end it.
鈥淲e gave them everything we had and we have nothing to be ashamed about,鈥� said Hall. 鈥淚鈥檓 so proud of my guys for the whole week; it was so amazing, and today we just came out on the wrong side of the inch. We had one bad break and couldn鈥檛 quite scramble back from it.鈥�
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