British Columbia’s 16-year drought is finally over.
Skip Tyler Tardi and his Langley/Royal City Curling Club rink claimed the province’s first Canadian Junior Men’s Curling Championship crown since 2000 on Sunday with a 9-7 victory over Ontario’s Matthew Hall in front of a partisan B.C. crowd at Archie Browning Sports Centre.
Brad Kuhn was the last skip to lead a B.C. junior men’s rink to national supremacy. Previous to that, it was Victoria teams skipped by Dean Joanisse and Mike Wood that hauled off consecutive national titles back in 1988 and 1989.
Tardi, third Sterling Middleton, second Jordan Tardi, lead Nick Meister and coach Paul Tardi join the select group after losing just one game over the nine day event, which was also held at the Esquimalt Curling Club. They were also the first team to win in its own province since Wood accomplished the feat in North Vancouver.
The Tardi crew now dons Canada’s colours at the World Junior Championships, Feb. 16-26 in Gangneung, South Korea.
“I’m getting chills right now. There are literally no words you can possibly say. It’s a dream I’ve always had and it’s always seemed so distant. Now that it’s here, it’s just an unreal feeling. It’s pretty spectacular,” said skip Tardi, 18, who set the game on its ear with an emphatic double-takeout to score four in the eighth end.
It came right after Hall got himself back in the game with a deuce in the sixth and a steal of two more in the seventh for a 5-4 lead.
“I thought it was there for three, for sure,” Tardi said of the shot. “I wasn’t sure if it would tick our own rock out. I was pretty happy with the result. We definitely needed a momentum swing since they’re really good when they get the momentum. We really needed to take it back from them.”
It was mission accomplished as the pro-B.C. crowd erupted after the shot and the chant of, “We are B.C.” went up.
Hall bounced back for two in the ninth end to make it 8-7, but Tardi made a hit-and-stick with his last rock in the 10th to end it.
“We gave them everything we had and we have nothing to be ashamed about,” said Hall. “I’m so proud of my guys for the whole week; it was so amazing, and today we just came out on the wrong side of the inch. We had one bad break and couldn’t quite scramble back from it.”
The victory capped a tremendous week for Tardi, who was overjoyed to win it with his older brother Jordan at second and dad Paul as coach. The supportive home crowd added an even greater appeal.
“I’ve never felt that much support. After I made that shot for four, I was really holding back smiles. The building erupted and there was this really cool feeling. I’ll probably never forget that as long as I live,” said Tardi.
The West proved to be best on this day as Team Alberta’s Kristen Streifel also took down Ontario in the women’s final in the morning.
It was thievery at its finest as Streifel stole two points in the 10th end to defeat Hailey Armstrong 5-3.
Tied 3-3 without last-rock advantage, Streifel used clutch draws from second Kate Goodhelpsen and third Chantele Broderson and threw in one final one herself for good measure to set up the theft.
Armstrong’s final attempt to come around a pair of guards and possibly tap back Streifel’s counter sitting on the button was wide and heavy. It left the Ontario skip and her previously undefeated team of third Grace Holyoke, second Lindsay Dubue and lead Marcia Richardson in tears.
Instead, Streifel, Broderson, Goodhelpsen and lead Brenna Bilassy become the fourth Alberta team to claim the Canadian crown in the past six years. Kelsey Rocque claimed the 2014 and 2015 titles after Jocelyn Peterman brought home the gold in 2012.
“Oh my goodness, words cannot describe the feeling. I’ve dreamed of this moment for so many years and to have it happen this week is just incredible,” said an elated Streifel.
This was Streifel’s fourth trip to nationals, but the previous three were while representing Saskatchewan in 2012, 2014 and 2015. She moved to Edmonton and the Saville Sports Centre as it is located on the University of Alberta grounds where the 21-year-old is a kinesiology student.
“We had a blast this week. Victoria was awesome, the ice was awesome. The volunteers were amazing,” said Streifel. “We just tried to put each game into perspective and at the end of the day, we just wanted to have a smile on our face and go home knowing we left it all on the ice.”
