Marika Van Osch will don Team sa国际传媒鈥檚 colours at the Canadian Junior Curling Championships for the fourth time in six years.
The Nanaimo third and teammates, skip Corryn Brown of Kamloops, second Dezaray Hawes of Anmore and lead Samantha Fisher (Kamloops), claimed the 2017 sa国际传媒 junior women鈥檚 championship thanks to a 7-4 win over Sarah Daniels鈥� Delta Thistle rink on Sunday at Royal City Curling Club in New Westminster. The Daniels rink included Megan Daniels and Sarah Loken of Delta and Sydney Brilz of Victoria at lead.
Van Osch was third on Daniels鈥� 2016 championship team and also played second and third, respectively, on victorious 2012 and 2014 sa国际传媒 teams skipped by sisters Kesa Van Osch and Kalia Van Osch, respectively.
Brown was sa国际传媒 champion in 2015 and a provincial and national junior champion in 2013 and should be among the favourites at Canadians, set for Jan. 21-29 at the Esquimalt Curling Club and Archie Browning Sports Centre.
It will be home-ice advantage for Van Osch, who is sure to draw Nanaimo fans to the event.
鈥淚t will be nice to have the home crowd behind you. That鈥檚 always exciting,鈥� she said of the upcoming event, in which sa国际传媒 will have high expectations. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e never quite sure until you get there because you don鈥檛 know all the teams yet. I like to think our chances are decent of doing pretty well. We鈥檝e all been there a couple of times.鈥�
The Brown rink also recently brought home a title from the Qinghai China Women鈥檚 International in Xining, China, by defeating Scotland鈥檚 Hannah Fleming in the final.
At previous junior nationals, Van Osch was with teams that finished second (9-5 loss) in 2016 to Nova Scotia鈥檚 Mary Fay; second to Alberta鈥檚 Kelsey Rocque in 2014 (7-6 loss), and lost the semifinal 8-7 to Jocelyn Peterman of Alberta in 2012.
On Sunday, the Brown foursome used a four-ender in the fifth to pull away from Daniels. It was the third time the teams collided and third win for Brown, who also downed Daniel 7-6 in the Page 1-2 game on Saturday and earlier won 10-7 in round-robin play at the eight-team event.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very happy. We went undefeated, but there were a couple of tough games in there,鈥� said Van Osch, 20.
In junior men鈥檚 play, Tyler Tardi recorded four-enders in the second and fourth ends to take an 11-5 victory over Kyle Habkirk鈥檚 rink based out of the Victoria Curling Centre. Habkirk was up 1-0 in the second end and had Tardi, the defending champion, in trouble in the second.
Habkirk鈥檚 last stone slid too deep and instead of a possible multiple steal, Tardi pulled off a triple-takeout, through a port, for four that swung the game quickly in the Langley/Royal City team鈥檚 favour.
Tardi, third Sterling Middleton, second Jordan Tardi and lead Nicholas Meister now advance to Esquimalt, where they will represent the home province.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty unreal feeling. We always wanted to be a home-crowd favourite. The two of us were in the sa国际传媒 [Winter] Games and it was very exhilarating, so we鈥檙e thrilled to do it again,鈥� skip Tardi said of his and Middleton鈥檚 previous accomplishment, the bronze medal at the 2015 sa国际传媒 Winter Games in Prince George.
The Habkirk rink, which includes Duncan Silversides at third, second Ryan Cassidy and lead Alex Horvath (all of Victoria), had won seven straight games until the final 鈥� the last five in the round robin, then the Page 3-4 game and the semifinal on Saturday.
