Okanagan-Shuswap rinks finished out of the playoffs at the 2024 Canadian U18 Male and Female Curling Championships in Ottawa.
On the men’s side, Team Beck – featuring skip Kaiden Beck of Salmon Arm, his brother Nolan at second, third Ethan Chiu of Port Moody, and lead Harrison Hrynew of New Westminster, and coached by Vernon’s Dale Hofer, finished with a 2-4 record in the preliminary round.
After getting back to .500 at 2-2, the Beck quartet lost 7-4 to Nash Sugden of Morden, Man., and fell 11-4 to Rogan Snow of Saskatoon.
The 2-4 record in Pool B put the B.C. champs into the Ranking Games, where Beck and company deffeated Kamdyn Julien of New Liskeard, Ont. 9-8. Nolan Beck threw lead stones and skipped the B.C. rink’s final game, a 9-3 victory over Charles Snider of Whitehorse.
Beck’s team lost to the eventual Canadian champions in the second draw of the event. Simon Perry from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador – who beat Beck 9-3 – defeated Dylan Derksen of Martensville, Sask. 5-4 in the gold-medal match.
Kelowna’s Megan Rempel followed a similar formula in the women’s tournament.
Rempel, third Parker Rempel, second Gwyneth Jones, and lead Ella Walker, and coached by Bryan Lyall, went 1-5 in the preliminary round. Their only win was an 11-3 romp over Hannah Connolly of St. John’s.
The two teams met again in the first round of the Ranking Games, with the Okanagan squad again winning decisively, 10-1.
The Kelowna side finished the tournament with a 12-3 victory over Hadley Callan of Whitehorse.
Shaela Hayward of Carman, Man. won the gold medal with an 8-5 victory over Jolianne Fortin of Saguenay, Que. Fortin defeated Rempel 8-3 in the round-robin.
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