Paul Henderson’s crew from the Victoria Curling Centre is doing its best to stay near the top of the pack at the Tim Hortons B.C. Junior Curling Championships at the Parksville Curling Club.
The team, which consists of third Duncan Silversides, second Benton Boychuk-Chorne, lead Jacob Zorn and fifth man Tim Henderson, improved to 2-0 with a 9-4 win over Zane Bartlett of Grand Forks/Invermere on Tuesday morning.
Henderson, with Todd Troyer as coach, fell behind 1-0 in the first end, but quickly rattled off three consecutive deuces to take control of the matchup to stay within striking distance of boys’ standings leader Cody Tanaka of Abbotsford.
Tanaka improved to 3-0 with a 9-6 win over previously undefeated Thomas Love of Vernon, who slips to 2-1.
Connor Croteau’s split VCC/Juan de Fuca team — with Matt MacDonald at third, Derek Chandler at second and lead Scott Gray — dumped Vernon’s Matt Schiman 6-4 in the morning draw. Croteau sits at 2-1 in the standings of the eight-team event.
In junior girls play, fans at Parksville were treated to a possible preview of a playoff matchup as defending champion Sarah Daniels of Delta/Thistle/Royal City (which includes Nanaimo’s Marika Van Osch at third) faced Corryn Brown of Kamloops in the lone morning game.
Daniels recorded a deuce in the sixth end and a steal of four in the seventh to break open what was a tight game for a 10-3 victory to improve to 3-0 while Brown slid to 2-1.
In the afternoon, Brown defeated Cierra Fisher of Vernon 12-5, while Daniels doubled up Shawna Jensen’s Powell River/JDF/Delta team (with Katherine Silversides at third, Michaela Douglas at second and Rebecca Douglas at lead) 6-3. Daniels is now 4-0, while Brown sits at 3-1 in the standings.
Mariah Coulombe’s split VCC/JDF rink (with Bailey Tinkler at third, Jordan Koster at second and lead Sydney Brilz) used a five-ender in the 10th to topple Kirsten Zucchet of Chilliwack 11-9 and improve their record to 2-1. Briana Egan of Coquitlam won 11-6 over Prince George’s Alyssa Connell. Egan, Connell, Fisher and Jensen are all 1-2. Zucchet is winless.
In the evening boys’ draw, games included Henderson vs. Brayden Carpenter of the Royal City Curling Club; Croteau vs. Tanaka; Love vs. Schiman; and Bartlett vs. Jonathan Loeppky of Prince Rupert.
Jensen was playing Fisher in the lone girls game.
The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday with the finals on Sunday.
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
