Daniel Bruce and his reigning provincial junior men’s curling champions won’t be taking part in the 2020 Tankard beginning today in St. John, but there will be a junior team competing this week at the Re/Max Centre,
That’s the rink skipped by Nathan Young of Torbay, who is recently returned from Switzerland where he and a Hungarian partner won a curling mixed doubles gold medal at the World Youth Olympics.
Young ’s team, which lost to Bruce in the most recent provincial junior men’s final, opens its Tankard schedule against a rink skipped by 60-year-old Mark Noseworthy, a four-time provincial men’s champion who won his first Tankard 38 years ago, 22 years before Young was born.
Noseworthy also won Tankards in 1987 and 1994 and 2002, The latter marks the only time that Brad Gushue played in a provincial championship he didn’t win.
By the way, Noseworthy has just returned from British Columbia where he was earned the top coach award for his work with the Mackenzie Mitchell team representing Newfoundland and Labrador in the Canadian junior championships women’s division.
Noseworthy is one of five former five Tankard champion skips playing this week. Thirteen-time winner Gushue; defending champion Andrew Symonds; Greg Smith, who won the provincial title in 2018; and Ken Peddigrew, who took it all in 2006 when Gushue played in the Olympics, are the others.
The rest of the Tankard roster includes teams skipped by Trent Skanes, Colin Thomas and Dave Thomas.
Except for the Dave Thomas rink, which is out of the Gateway club in Port aux Basques, the rest are listed as being from the Re/Max Centre, although some, include’s Smith’s team, also practise at St. John’s other curling club, Bally Haly.
The Young-Noseworthy matchup is one of four in today’s opening draw (12:30 p.m.). Gushue’s first game is in the 5:30 p.m. draw, when he takes on Symonds and the defending Tankard champs.
There will also be two round-robin draws per day (2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.) Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with preliminary play wrapping up Saturday morning. The teams owning the top three preliminary records advance to the playoffs, with the first-place team going straight to Sunday’s final and the second- and third-place sides meeting in a semifinal that will determined the other team that will play for the title.
The winner will wear Newfoundland and Labrador’s colours at the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier, beginning Feb. 29 in Kingston, Ont.
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