Paul Henderson鈥檚 Victoria Curling Centre rink will attempt to bring home its second straight provincial title at the 2016 Tim Hortons sa国际传媒 junior men鈥檚 curling championship that begins today at the Kamloops Curling Club.
Not only will the skip be looking for his second consecutive triumph, it would also be the Quadra Street club鈥檚 fifth straight sa国际传媒 junior men鈥檚 crown.
Henderson, who is joined by third Duncan Silversides, second Benton Boychuk-Chorney, lead Timothy Henderson and coach Todd Troyer, is one of two VCC junior men鈥檚 teams competing.
Connor Croteau鈥檚 crew, of third Scott Gray, second Derek Chandler, lead Jared Vlassis with coach Bob Coulombe, is also in the field.
Henderson鈥檚 entire team is back from the 2015 championship where his brother Tim was an alternate. That title followed previous provincial victories from the VCC鈥檚 Josh Hozak, Todd Klymchuk and Cameron de Jong from 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively.
Henderson opens the 2016 event against Jordan Kiss of the Royal City Curling Club in the first draw this afternoon at 2 p.m. while Croteau faces Thomas Love of Vernon.
In junior women鈥檚 play also in Kamloops, skip Mariah Coulombe鈥檚 VCC rink of third Bailey Tinkler, second Jordan Koster, lead Sydney Brilz with coach Andrew Komlodi ,begins against skip Sarah Loken of Delta at 7:30 p.m.
The Island is also represented on Shawna Jensen鈥檚 team with third Katherine Silversides, of the Juan de Fuca club, and Parksville sisters Michaela and Rebecca Douglas at second and lead, respectively, with coach Dave Douglas.
Nanaimo鈥檚 Marika Van Osch also plays third on Sarah Daniels鈥� team from the Royal City club, which is one of the favourites along with defending champ Corryn Brown of Kamloops. Daniels faces Jensen this afternoon at 2.
Both championships are an eight-team, round-robin tournament through Friday before the Page playoff system kicks in on the weekend. Both finals (women at 9 a.m. and men at 2 p.m.) will be broadcast on Sportsnet on Sunday.
The two victors will then travel to Stratford, Ont., Jan. 23-31, for the 2016 Canadian Junior Curling Championship. The 2017 national junior event will be held in Victoria at the Archie Browning Sports Centre.
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