CORNER BROOK, N.L. — His team may have had to settle for silver at the U21 Curling Nationals final, but Daniel Bruce has no regrets.
The 20-year-old from Corner Brook skipped his rink to the final in Langley, B.C. on Jan. 26, but lost 8-6 to a Manitoba side skipped by Jacques Gauthier.
Nevertheless, Bruce found a lot of positives to take away from the tournament.
“It was a really good week,” he told The Western Star. “We met our goal of making the final. We just fell short, but that doesn’t take anything away from the great week we had. We played to the best of our ability and it just wasn’t enough in the end.”
Bruce believes their downfall was in not executing when it counted the most.
“I guess (we) had to make a little more shots but, in hindsight, that’s just the way it goes,” he said. “You’re not going to have a good game every game. We were all prepared for the game and everything, it just didn’t go our way.”
Bruce now concludes his junior career as a three-time U21 Newfoundland and Labrador champion, winning the title in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Having aged out of the U21, participating in the Newfoundland and Labrador Tankard for the first time will be in his sights for next year.
“I’m looking forward to playing in it,” he said.
The team missed the tournament this year due to the overlap with the U21 nationals.
Bruce said he and third Ryan McNeil Lamswood will continue playing together while second Joel Krats will still be playing juniors.
Lead Nathan King will be moving away for school.
There will be a bit of a recruiting process to fill out the team, but Bruce said they already have some people in mind.
In the interim, Bruce will be competing again at the 2020 Atlantic University Sports coming up in February.
He said his goal is to finish in the top two and quality for the university nationals in Manitoba.
Bruce will be skipping the new team comprised of McNeil Lamswood, Greg Blyde and Ben Stringer.
