They pattern their deliveries after their Northern Ontario heroes, Olympic gold medalists Team Brad Jacobs, and they certainly got the same type of result in opening play of the championship round of the Canadian Junior Men鈥檚 and Women鈥檚 Curling Championships on Wednesday afternoon.
Northern Ontario鈥檚 Tanner Horgan, last year鈥檚 silver medallist at the nationals, and his rink of brother Jacob Horgan at third, Nick Bissonnette at second and lead Maxime Blais toppled previously undefeated J.T. Ryan of Manitoba 7-5 at Archie Browning Sports Centre.
A deuce in the seventh end broke a 4-4 tie before the teams traded singles in the eighth and ninth. Skip Horgan ended it with a double takeout in the 10th that ran Ryan out of rocks and brought on the infamous Northen Ontario moose calls from the stands.
鈥淭hat was a big one for us. Beating the top-ranked team in the other pool is huge for us. If we keep playing like that, we might be able to rattle off a few more [wins] and that鈥檚 exactly where we want to be,鈥� said Horgan.
The junior men鈥檚 teams did carry forward their record from original pool play, but only against the teams that also advanced into the championship round. That meant Manitoba began at 3-0, like sa国际传媒鈥檚 Tyler Tardi. Horgan improved his log from 2-3 with the much-needed victory.
鈥淭he whole team played really well. We鈥檙e finally back in our groove,鈥� said Hrgan, whose team looked frustrated earlier in the week. 鈥淐oming second last year and starting off 2-3, there鈥檚 definitely some frustration to start.鈥�
This might be the tonic for the crew which moved to the similar deliveries to the Jacobs team.
鈥淲e sort of modeled ourselves after them a little bit, so we all slide like that now,鈥� said Horgan.
In other junior men鈥檚 championship play, Tardi remained perfect, building up an 8-1 lead and defeating New Brunswick鈥檚 Liam Marin 8-3. Tardi is now 4-0 and leading the championship pack while Marin is 1-3. Ontario鈥檚 Matthew Hall (2-2) doubled Alberta鈥檚 Colton Goller (1-3) 6-3; and Nova Scotia鈥檚 Matthew Manuel (2-2) peppered P.E.I.鈥檚 Tyler Smith (1-3) 9-2.
The junior women, meanwhile, carried their entire overall pool records over and sa国际传媒鈥檚 Corryn Brown lost 6-4 in the afternoon against P.E.I.鈥檚 Lauren Lenentine on the Esquimalt Curling Club side. Both teams are now 4-3 in championship play.
Ontario鈥檚 Hailey Armstrong kept her perfect record intact at 7-0 with a 5-3 win over Nova Scotia鈥檚 Kristin Clarke (3-4), who was fortunate to still be around. The defending champ, who s at th helm of the Bluenosers taking over Mary fay鈥檚 team, survived a morning tiebreaker to down Newfoundland and Labrador鈥檚 Brooke Godsland 9-8 in an extra end, despite allowing a four-ender for the second straight day.
Alberta鈥檚 Kristen Streifel is 6-1 after a 7-5 win over Quebec鈥檚 Camille Boisvert (4-3); and Northern Ontario鈥檚 Krysta Burns clogged the standings up even further with an 8-5 victory over Saskatchewan鈥檚 Kaitlyn Jones. Both are 4-3. Burns had also survived a morning tiebreaker with an 8-5 win over New Brunswick鈥檚 Samantha Crook.
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