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Island junior curlers target sa国际传媒 titles

Kalia Van Osch knows the pressure will be squarely on her team鈥檚 shoulders, but she and her Nanaimo rink are looking forward to it. The 19-year-old skip, who played third last season for older sister Kesa on their way to a sa国际传媒
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Victoria Curling Centre skip Cameron de Jong, right, and his rink, from left, Connar Croteau, Thomas Thierbach and Brook Calibaba begin their hunt for a provincial junior title today in Chilliwack.

Kalia Van Osch knows the pressure will be squarely on her team鈥檚 shoulders, but she and her Nanaimo rink are looking forward to it.

The 19-year-old skip, who played third last season for older sister Kesa on their way to a sa国际传媒 junior women鈥檚 curling crown, has a new role this year.

Having replaced graduated Kesa at skip, Kalia, third Carley Sandwith (who hails from the Victoria Curling Centre), sister Marika Van Osch at second and lead Ashley Sanderson are clearly the favourites when the 2013 Tim Hortons sa国际传媒 Junior Women鈥檚 competition starts today at the Chilliwack Curling Club.

Marika was also a member of last year鈥檚 provincial-champion rink, playing second.

鈥淚鈥檓 feeling pretty good about it. I think the girls are ready and we鈥檙e ready to go as a team,鈥 said Kalia. 鈥淲e have the experience from provincials and from nationals so the pressure won鈥檛 be an issue for us.

鈥淚 think for my sister and I, we鈥檙e going in there, a little bit, to defend our title. In that regards, I think we are one of the favourites. I鈥檓 good with that role, though. I鈥檝e been expecting it.鈥

And this team is more than capable of getting to a second straight M&M Meat Shops Canadian junior championship, slated for Feb. 2-10 in Fort McMurray, Alta.

鈥淥ur goal is to go back and get to wear that sa国际传媒 jacket as a team,鈥 Kalia said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we鈥檝e been working for all season.鈥

Katherine Silversides of the Juan de Fuca Curling Club will also be competing at provincials with third Dallyce Gillespie, second Brooke Capron and lead Sydney Brilz. Victoria Curling Centre members Merit Thorson (third) and Nicole Block (alternate) are part of Stephanie Prinse鈥檚 rink from the host Chilliwack club.

On the junior men鈥檚 side, Cameron de Jong has an excellent chance to represent the province with his Victoria Curling Centre rink of third Brook Calibaba, second Connar Croteau, lead Thomas Thierbach and alternate Ryan Cassidy, who rotates in and out of the lineup.

鈥淲e鈥檙e feeling pretty good going into this,鈥 said de Jong, 19, who is also competing in his third straight provincial event. 鈥淭he experience helps because I鈥檝e been in these games before.

鈥淚 know how long the week can be,鈥 added de Jong, who finished seventh two years ago and fourth last season. 鈥淚f we could somehow battle our way straight into the final, that would help. Still, if you make the playoffs or a tiebreaker, it鈥檚 one game at a time.鈥

And, like the Van Osch rink, de Jong knows what to expect.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel pressure going into it and I think I deal well with pressure pretty well,鈥 said the skip. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I feel pretty good going into this.鈥

Fellow VCC member Duncan Silversides (with third Benton Boychuk-Chorney, second Jacob Zorn, lead Timothy Henderson and alternate Even Scott-Moncrieff) will also be in the eight-team field which will go through a round-robin.

Other VCC ties in junior men鈥檚 play include Paul Henderson鈥檚 rink, with twins Calvin and Byron Heels 鈥 at third and lead respectively 鈥 from Esquimalt Curling Club, and second Erik Leisinger.

Second Sanjay Bowry, third Corey Chester and coach Todd Troyer, all of the VCC, are with Tyler Klymchuk鈥檚 team, which represents both the Langley CC and Victoria and is also a favourite along with de Jong.

The women鈥檚 final is slated for Sunday at 3 p.m., with the men鈥檚 going at 7 p.m.

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