Four up-and-coming talents with the Tunnel Town Curling Club are in Vernon this week for the B.C. Junior Championships.
Meredith Cole and Keira McCoy, along with Sam Husdon and Connor Deane, qualified with their respective teams to battle B.C.’s best U21 talent starting today.
The B.C. Juniors features eight rinks competing in the men’s and women’s divisions with spots at next month’s Canadian Championships in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan on the line.
All four have plenty of junior eligibility remaining, in fact, Cole and McCoy will be two of the youngest players in Vernon — in Grades 10 and 9 respectively at South Delta Secondary.
They were each introduced to the sport at an early age, through the encouragement of their parents, and regularly attended Wednesday junior sessions at the club.
It wasn’t until recently their games had improved to the point where they were ready to compete outside of Tunnel Town. That’s when they teamed with Jensen and Chelsea Taylor from the Royal City Curling Club.
The newly-formed rink made an instant impression by winning Division Two of the Optimist League and also finished second at last year’s U18 provincials.
They began this season on the province-wide junior tour then headed to Coastal qualifying, hoping for nothing more than to benefit from the opportunity of facing older opponents.
Team Taylor dropped its opening game then proceeded to win its next three to capture the “B” Event and the final provincial berth.
“We were just expecting to go out, have fun and learn from it,” smiled McCoy, who plays second on Team Taylor. “The teams were a lot older than us so we wanted to enjoy the experience and learn from their strategy too.”
Now they are already among the best in B.C. and could be heading back to the showcase event for at least the next five years.
“We know it’s going to be another really good experience for us,” added Cole, who throws third stones. “I’m excited but I know I will be nervous too, just knowing how good the teams will be.”
It was a cancelled ski trip that introduced Husdon and Deane to curling and the lifelong friends haven’t looked back since.
When their elementary school’s annual Grade 7 ski sessions were scraped, the back-up plan was curling lessons at Tunnel Town. Both boys became immediately intrigued with the sport and five students from that class would eventually sign-up with the Tunnel Town junior program.
Six years later, four of them are in Grade 12 at Delta Secondary and will be looking to earn a trip to the high school championships in February. They have finished runner-up to a team from Elgin Park the last three years.
They have also been regulars in Tunnel Town’s Tuesday Night Men’s League. Deane then joined a junior team out of Richmond before it split at the end of last season.
He was encouraged to reach out to Langley’s Nick Umbach and also convinced Husdon to come onboard too.
Royal City’s Brenin Moore completes the new team that instantly clicked in training sessions and is also playing in a weekly league out of Langley.
Team Umbach features Nick at skip, Husdon at third, Deane at second and Moore as the lead. They also earned their spot in Vernon by winning the “B” Event at the Coastal Playdowns.
“We initially did the tour and it was a rough start. I think we were second to last in the first bonspiel. We used the experience to practice as hard as we could and slowly improved,” said Husdon.
The Tunnel Town pair also got a taste of men’s elite competition by joining a Peace Arch rink for last weekend’s Coastal Playdowns on their home ice. It will only benefit their games in Vernon.
“At the start of the year our goal was to medal (at provincials),” added Deane. “It’s definitely achievable but we are talking about only the top teams in B.C.”
