The hardest thing in sports is reconciling what happened with what might have been.

The Kesa Van Osch rink from Nanaimo came within one game of playing in a nationally televised championship match and two wins from landing a berth in the 2012 world junior curling championships in Ostersund, Sweden.

Jocelyn Peterman of Alberta edged the B.C.-champion Van Osch crew from the Harbour City 8-7 Saturday in the women’s semifinals of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Junior Championships at Napanee, Ont.

“You think about the game, not the outcome and all that means,” said Van Osch, by phone from Napanee, after the draining semifinal loss.

Van Osch led 6-4 after eight ends. But a dramatic four-point ninth end gave Red Deer’s Peterman, facing certain elimination if she didn’t make that tricky shot, what she needed to advance to the final.

“Their four in that [ninth] end cost us the game,” said Van Osch.

Peterman went on to defeat Manitoba representative Shannon Birchard of Winnipeg’s St. Vital Curling Club 12-6 in the championship game shown on TSN and will represent Canada at the world championships March 3-11 at the Z-Hallen Ice Hall in Ostersund.

It probably wasn’t much consolation but all three siblings from the Island rink were named national championship all-stars. Third Kalia Van Osch was selected to the first team for her 80 per cent shooting average and skip Kesa Van Osch (75 per cent) and second Marika Van Osch (80 per cent) were both tabbed as second-team all-stars.

The lead of the Nanaimo team was Brooklyn Leitch with Jim Newlands coaching.

“We played well,” said Kesa Van Osch.

“We did great. Our goal coming in was to make the playoffs and we did that.”

The Van Osch rink continued a recent Island tradition and followed the three-time B.C. junior champion Dailene Sivertson rink of Victoria into the national tournament.

The 21-year-old Sivertson, who won silver and bronze medals at the Canadian juniors, has since graduated to become part of the 2012 B.C. women’s champion Kelly Scott rink that is headed to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian championships Feb. 18-26 in Red Deer. Scott herself is a former Canadian junior champion.

Kesa Van Osch will graduate to the senior women’s curling ranks next season to face the likes of Scott and Sivertson while her sisters and Leitch remain in junior.

Meanwhile, the B.C.-champion Josh Hozack rink from Victoria represented the province on the men’s side of the national juniors over the week in Napanee but did not advance to the playoff round.

Kyle Doering of Manitoba and Brennan Wark of Northern Ontario meet in the men’s semifinals this morning to decide who will play round-robin champion Brendan Bottcher of Alberta in the final today at 4 p.m.