At 4-0, Tyler Klymchuk’s rink is threatening to run off and hide at the 2013 Tim Horton’s Junior Men’s provincial curling championship at the Coquitlam Curling Club.
Klymchuk’s experienced crew, which includes Victoria Curling Centre’s Corey Chester at third and Sanjay Bowry at second, along with Rhys Gamache of Tswwassen at lead, is off to a roaring start.
“We’ve had a few good games,” said Klymchuk’s coach Todd Troyer, who also hails from the VCC. “My guys have played very well so far.”
Which comes as no surprise to Troyer, who won a national junior title of his own with Mike Wood back in 1988 before finishing second at the world junior championship to Peja Lindholm of Sweden.
“My skip represented B.C. two years ago and my third represented B.C. last year. They’ve also been to a lot of World Curling Tour events,” Troyer said.
“It’s their last kick at it, too, so they really want to perform for themselves,” added Troyer, who coached Chester — under skip Josh Hozack — to a B.C. title last season.
Klymchuk, who hails from Langley, doubled Paul Henderson’s split rink from the VCC and Esquimalt clubs, 6-3 in the Thursday morning draw. He followed that up with a 6-2 victory over Brandon Emslie of Kelowna in the afternoon to stay ahead of 3-0 Kyle Habkirk of the host club.
Henderson also lost 8-2 to Cameron de Jong’s VCC rink in the afternoon as they improved to 2-2.
Duncan Silversides, also of the VCC, was 1-2 heading into a late draw against Emslie.
Meanwhile, in junior women’s play, Kalia Van Osch’s Nanaimo rink is 3-0 courtesy of an 8-1 afternoon win over Stephanie Prinse of Chiliwack.
n LAST CHANCE: Wes Craig and Neil Dangerfield, of the VCC, and Nanaimo’s Steve Waatainen are among the 17 teams looking to earn the final five qualifying spots towards provincials.
The Men’s Open is the last opportunity for rinks to advance to the 2013 Canadian Direct Insurance B.C. Men’s championship in Parksville, Feb. 5-10. Play begins today with draws at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Golden Ears Winter Club in Maple Ridge.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
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