The colour is still to be determined, bur Newfoundland and Labrador, represented by a team skipped by Daniel Bruce, will win a medal at the New Holland Canadian junior men’s curling championship in Langley, B.C.
Bruce and teammates Ryan McNeil Lamswood, Joel Krats and Nathan King scored two points in the 10th and final end for a 5-4 win over Nova Scotia in Thursday’s afternoon draw in Langley. The result improved the record for Bruce and Co. to 7-2. And after P.E.I.’s 10-2 loss to Alberta later Thursday, that record was enough to guarantee the N.L. team will be one of three advancing to the medal round from the eight-team championship pool.
The eventual first-place finisher goes directly to the final, where it will meet the winner of a Saturday semifinal between the second- and third-place teams. The final order of standings will be determined today, the last day of championship pool play.
The Newfoundland rink has one preliminary game left today against a Manitoba entry.
The Bruce rink curls out of the Re/Max Centre in St. John’s. However, its members are from other areas of the province; Bruce and King, who are from Corner Brook, and McNeil Lamswood , who is from Stephenville, are Memorial University students. Krats is a Labrador City native attending Mount Pearl Senior High School.
The national championships, which also involves a women’s division, began with 14 teams in both sections, each divided into two seven-team pools for preliminary play. The top four finishers in each preliminary pool advanced to the championship pool, taking their records with them.
The team representing Newfoundland in the women’s competition earned a berth in the championship pool, but Mackenzie Mitchell’s rink, which also plays out of the Re/Max Centre, is out of medal contention after losing twice on Thursday, 12-4 at the hands of undefeated Manitoba in afternoon play and 8-5 in a night-time draw against Nova Scotia.
Mitchell and rinkmates Katie Follett, Sarah Chaytor and Claire Hartlen take a 4-5 record into their final game against Quebec this afternoon.
