Mackenzie Mitchell and her rinkmates didn’t have much time to dwell on what had to have been a tough loss in the final of the Scotties Newfoundland and Labrador women’s curling championship earlier this week at the Re/Max Centre in St. John’s.
When Mitchell and teammates Katie Follett, Sarah Chaytor and Claire Hartlen packed away their gear following an 8-2 loss to Erica Curtis in Tuesday’s championship game — their only setback in six games at the Scotties competition — they were doing so in preparation for another event. As reigning provincial women’s champions, the Mitchell rink is in Langley, B.C., where the New Holland Canadian junior curling championships begin today.
The junior championships involve both men’s and women’s divisions. On the male side, Newfoundland will be represented by Daniel Bruce’s rink, which like Mitchell’s, curls out of the Re/Max Centre.
But in both cases, the skips are Corner Brook natives who are attending Memorial University in St. John’s. In fact, none of the members of Bruce’s team are from St. John’s, Third Ryan McNeil Lamswood is from Stephenville, lead Nathan King is from Corner Brook and second Joel Krats is from Labrador City by way of Gander
There is plenty of national experience on both provincial teams.
Mitchell hasn’t been to a Canadian junior or under-18 championship, but did skip the N.L. entry at the last Canada Winter Games. Meanwhile, Follett and Chaytor were member of Mackenzie Glynn’s provincial junior women’s champions in 2018 and 2019. In addition, those two have been to three national U18 events, including 2019 when Follett worked as skip.
And four-time provincial Tankard men’s champion Mark Newsworthy is coaching the Mitchell rink
On the junior men’s side, this will be no less than McNeil Lamswood’s fifth national junior event. He curled with Greg Smith in 2015 and 2016, with Bruce in 2018 and with Greg Blyde in 2019, when Bruce and King were part of the Newfoundland entry. King also curled with the Bruce-skipped team in 2018.
Dennis Bruce, who is Daniel’s father, is coach of the team.
There are 14 teams in both the men’s and women’s divisions in Langley, In each case, they are divided int0 two seven-team pools for preliminary play. The top four finishers in each preliminary poll advance to the championship pool, taking their records with them. Play in the championship pool will determine the four medal-round contenders.
Teams that don’t qualify for the championship phase will compete in a seeding pool to determine provincial/territorial rankings for the next Canadian juniors. Curlers on all non-playoff teams will participate in a mixed doubles competition on the final weekend.
The Newfoundland women are entered with the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario, with their first game this afternoon against the Albertans.
In men’s play, N.L. is entered in a pool with Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Northwest Territories and two entries from British Columbia.
B,C, and Manitoba both have two teams in junior men’s play since NWT is the only territory with a male team in Langley.
The winners will represent Canada at the 2020 world junior championships, Feb. 15-22 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
Actually, there are berths in two world junior championships up for grabs in the competition, which concludes Jan. 26.
With the 2021 Canadian junior championships being moved to March to allow junior-age players to compete longer into the season, players competing in Langley may be representing Canada at the 2021 world juniors, set for next February, depending on the their age eligibility.
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