Victoria Curling Club rinks skipped by Paul Henderson and Mariah Coulombe earned quick berths to the Tim Hortons sa国际传媒 Junior Championship at the Coastal playdowns in Port Moody this past weekend.
After an opening bye, Henderson and his rink of third Duncan Silversides, second Benton Boychuk-Chorney and lead Timothy Henderson defeated Horace Mak of the Royal City Curling Club 7-5 and then edged clubmate Alex Stoyles 8-7 in an extra end to grab the A qualifier.
鈥淓ven though it was only two games it felt like a lot of curling. They were both really long ones,鈥� said Henderson, who didn鈥檛 get off the ice until after 11 p.m. in his Friday opener and had to wake up at 6 a.m. for his morning game.
鈥淚t worked out well though and it鈥檚 amazing to get a chance to defend our sa国际传媒 title,鈥� added Henderson.
Connar Croteau and his VCC/Kerry Park rink of third Scott Gray, second Derek Chandler and lead Jared Vlassis earned the C-event berth with an 8-6 win over Hayato Sato of Coquiltam.
It was the seventh game of the weekend for Croteau and Co., who also edged Stoyles and his team of third Thomas Thierbach, second Ryan Cassidy, lead Evan Scott-Moncrieff and fifth-man Alexander Horvath 4-3 in B-event play.
A total of nine teams competed in the boys鈥� field.
Coulombe downed Brianna Hanni of Mission 7-3, then defeated Kirsten Zucchet of Chilliwack 14-9 before claiming the A qualifier 8-3 over Shawna Jensen of Delta.
Jensen, who features Victoria鈥檚 Katherine Silversides at third and Parksville sisters Michaela and Rebecca Douglas at second and lead, respectively, did bounce back to win the C event, 10-4 over Hanni.
The Parksville/Nanaimo rink of skip Emily Smith, third Lauren McIntosh, second Shania Wheat and lead Amanda Litton also competed in the six-team event.
Qualifying teams now advance to provincials, slated for Dec. 29 to Jan. 3 in Kamloops.
