Team Tardi (a.k.a. Team Canada) includes alternate Jacque Gauthier, second Jordan Tardi, third Sterling Middleton, skip Tyler Tardi, and coach Paul Tardi. Missing from the picture is lead Zachary Curtis. (Roxanne Hooper/Langley Advance)

Team Tardi (a.k.a. Team Canada) includes alternate Jacque Gauthier, second Jordan Tardi, third Sterling Middleton, skip Tyler Tardi, and coach Paul Tardi. Missing from the picture is lead Zachary Curtis. (Roxanne Hooper/Langley Advance)

Langley curlers 1 for 1 in Scotland as juniors get underway

Team Tardi, a group based out of the Langley Curling Centre, defeated Switzerland in Game 1.

They won their first international game.

Despite no practice time and lengthy travel disruptions, Canada’s Tyler Tardi got off to a winning start at the World Junior Curling Championships in Aberdeen, Scotland today (Saturday).

Tardi – with third Sterling Middleton, second Jordan Tardi and lead Zachary Curtis – used a four-ender in the ninth to pull off a 7-3 victory over Switzerland’s Jan Hess in Game 1 of the 10-team round-robin.

Team Tardi, of Langley, faces Sweden and Scotland on Sunday, both teams are also 1-0 after the first day of play.

“It’s always good to start off with a win, especially against a team that’s making a lot of shots like that, so I’m feeling good (about the victory),” skip Tardi said afterward.

Tardi trailed 2-1 at the fifth-end break before recording one in the sixth and a steal of one in the seventh. After Hess tied it at 3-3 in the eighth, Canada bopped the Swiss with the tidy four.

“Considering the amount of time we had to learn it, I thought we did a good job to get a hold of it,” Tardi said of the ice conditions, which all teams need to get used to, considering no practice time before hand due to travel problems. “We’re starting to feel more comfortable and we’re happy with the way it’s running right now.”

Meanwhile, Canada’s Kaitlyn Jones – with Kristin Clarke at third, Karlee Burgess at second and lead Lindsey Burgess – defeated China and Turkey by identical 8-5 scores in junior women’s play to leave Canada at 2-0 after Day 1.

Linescores are available at http://www.worldcurling.org/wjcc2018/livescores

• Stay tuned here for more on the boys and their progress overseas

Langley Advance