For a while, Greg Blyde’s St. John’s-based rink was rolling on what would have been an improbable trip to medal round of the New Holland Canadian junior men’s curling championship in Prince Albert, Sask.
But losses in its last two games left the Newfoundland and Labrador representatives with a seventh overall finish in the 14-team competition.
Blyde and rinkmates Daniel Bruce, Ryan MacNeil Lamswood and Nathan King — a trio of Memorial University students from the province’s west coast — made it to the eight-team championship round after preliminary play. However, they took their 3-3 preliminary record with them, meaning they would probably have to win all four of their championship-round games in order to be one of three teams left to play for medals.
The rink, which sees Bruce throwing fourth stones, made a good start in that regard, defeating Nova Scotia and Manitoba in its first two championship-round games. But hopes were dashed with losses to Quebec and Northern Ontario.
That left the rink with a 5-5 overall record.
By the way, it did take a 7-3 record to earn the last medal-round berth. That went to Manitoba, which the Newfoundland team had defeated 9-5.
The Mackenzie Glynn rink from St. John’s, Newfoundland’s representatives in the junior women’s nationals, also being held in Prince Albert, didn’t advance from preliminary play to the championship round and instead finished off its week in the seeding pool, where it found success.
The Glynn rink, which also includes Katie Follett, Sarah Chaytor and Camille Burt, won all three of its games in the seeding portion, giving it an overall record of 5-4 in Prince Albert.
As a result, Newfoundland and Labrador will be ranked ninth at the 2020 national junior women’s championship.