After a slow start, the B.C. champs are beginning to roll at the 2024 Canadian Under 18 Male Curling Championships in Ottawa.
Salmon Arm’s Beck brothers – with Kaiden at skip and Nolan at second – and the Lower Mainland duo of Ethan Chiu of Port Moody at third and Harrison Hrynew from New Westminster throwing lead stones improved to 2-2 Tuesday morning, Feb. 6, with a 6-4 win over Peter Hlushak of Alberta. It was the Edmonton rink’s first loss.
Beck tied the game 4-4 with a deuce in the sixth end, and stole single points in the final two ends to pick up the win.
The squad – coached by Vernon’s Dale Hofer – opened the 21-team event with a 5-4 loss to Tyler MacTavish of Waterloo, Ont., then dropped a 9-3 decision to Simon Perry of St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador.
Beck got into the win column Monday with a 9-1 romp over Shawn Dragon of Yellowknife and Inuvik.
The B.C. champions were fifth in the seven-team Pool B with a record of 2-2 after their lone game of Tuesday. Perry sat atop the pool at 3-1 while MacTavish, Hlushak and Rogan Snow of Saskatoon were 2-1.
The Beck rink is back on the ice at 11 a.m. Pacific Wednesday with a game against Nash Sugden of Morden, Man., and finishes the preliminary round Thursday at 5:30 a.m. PST, taking on Snow.
The Canadian U18 Female Championships are being played at the same time in the nation’s capital, and Kelowna’s Megan Rempel looks to get into the win column Tuesday (11 a.m. PST) against Jolianne Fortin of Saguenay, Que. (1-1).
Rempel – backed by third Parker Rempel, second Gwyneth Jones, lead Ella Walker, and coached by Brian Lyall, opened with an 8-3 loss to Cailey Locke of St. John’s. The B.C. No. 2 rink then lost 9-1 to Shaela Hayward of Carman, Man., and 8-5 to Cassidy Blades of Truro, NS. Rempel was sitting sixth out of seven in Pool C heading into play Tuesday.
The B.C. champions, the Erin Fitzgibbon rink of New Westminster, are 2-0 in Pool B.
Matches are live streamed here.
READ MORE: Vernon Olympian to grace stage at Vancouver fundraiser
READ MORE: Vernon tennis star helps Canada punch ticket to Davis Cup finals