Kyle Habkirk鈥檚 junior men鈥檚 rink of third Duncan Silversides, second Ryan Cassidy and lead Alex Horvath is hoping to qualify via the sa国际传媒 junior men鈥檚 title. Mariah Coulombe鈥檚 team 鈥� consisting of Taylor Reese-Hansen at third, Jordan Kloster at second and Kirsten Zucchet at lead 鈥� will battle to represent the province among the junior women.
Coastal playdowns are set for Nov. 25-27 at Comox Valley and the provincials follow Dec. 26 to Jan. 1 in New Westminster.
There is plenty of work to be completed between now and then.
鈥淎bsolutely, that鈥檚 the dream,鈥� Coulombe said of the chance to represent sa国际传媒 at nationals. 鈥淲e鈥檙e really going to push for it just because it is here. Representing your own province in your own city would be the all-time high. The fan base would be huge.鈥�
Coulombe, 20, is in her last year of junior eligibility and finished fourth last year at provincials on a team with Bailey Tinkler at third, Kloster and Sydney Brilz at lead.
Brilz is now playing lead for Sarah Daniels, which will be one of the favourites in sa国际传媒 this year, and Nanaimo鈥檚 Marika Van Osch is third for Corryn Brown, another strong team based out of the mainland.
Coulombe鈥檚 current rink will be in Vernon this weekend at the Rick Cotter Memorial event to try to earn valuable points on the junior tour. The top two teams on that circuit will automatically qualify for provincials.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been slow in leading up to it, but after this coming weekend we only have one weekend off and then it鈥檚 curling every single weekend up to playdowns,鈥� said Coulombe, who is coached by her dad, Bob.
The foursome will also enter the women鈥檚 provincial playdowns.
鈥淲e鈥檙e feeling super confident,鈥� she said of the year.
The same goes for Habkirk鈥檚 team, which like Coulombe, is based out of the Victoria Curling Centre.
Habkirk is from the mainland and rejoins his coach, Ken MacDonald, who is also the general manager at the VCC. The remainder of the team is from Victoria and Silversides was on Paul Henderson鈥檚 sa国际传媒 junior championship team from 2014, which defeated Habkirk (who played third for Cody Tanaka) in the provincial final that year.
鈥淲e鈥檝e gelled really well and the team is working really well together,鈥� said Silversides, 18. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to make it into the sa国际传媒 finals. Getting to play at Esquimalt would be really cool, then you can have all your friends come watch you play.鈥�
The foursome is off to the prestigious Ottawa Valley Superspiel next week, which brings in 16 invited teams, five from Ontario with the other 11 brought in based on resum茅s. Last year the eventual top three junior men鈥檚 teams from the worlds were there, as well as six provincial champs.
鈥淚t鈥檒l be a great experience to get out of the province to play against the other top teams in the country,鈥� said Silversides.
MacDonald works with the team, which gets together on weekends when Habkirk ferries over for practice. This weekend they will play Neil Dangerfield鈥檚 men鈥檚 team in exhibition. Silversides also skips in the Tuesday Superleague.
鈥淭hey haven鈥檛 won [an event] together, but they鈥檙e working real hard on team dynamics and strategy plans 鈥� things that are hard to see,鈥� said MacDonald. 鈥淪ometimes that means that at bonspiels you have under-performed on the scoreboard, but not on the goals we had to develop as a team.鈥�
Both VCC teams recently competed in the Anita Cochrane Memorial Junior tournament in New Westminster where Coulombe finished fourth with a 3-1 record before playoffs. Habkirk鈥檚 crew was 2-2.
EXTRA ENDS: The organizing committee of the Canadian Junior Curling Championships (which will have the semifinals and final broadcast on TSN) still needs 70 volunteers, and interested participants can register online at curling.ca/2017juniors/volunteer/
