Langley and Victoria’s Team Tardi won the 2019 BC Junior Curling Championships, claiming the junior men’s title with a win over Team Colwell at Vernon Curling Club.
Tyler Tardi, Sterling Middleton, Matthew Hall, Alex Horvath maintained their lead throughout the game, with a 6-0 score after four ends. Team Colwell notched single points in the fifth and eighth ends, but eventually fell 9-2.
“They got some unfortunate breaks, I’m not going to lie, but we played our hearts out and we played really well and made a couple of key shots that game,” Tardi said.
It was the fourth year in a row that Team Tardi has won the BC Junior Men’s Championship.
“It’s pretty neat, Tardi told Black Press.
“It feels as good as the first time.”
Tardi’s big hit weight was a differentiator all week, and that was the killer arrow in their quiver in the final.
“We let that be a pretty big part of our game in holding leads. We’ve been working on that for the past five or six years and it’s become a big edge in our game, and here it really showed,” Tardi confirmed.
Always the debate in curling playoffs is the impact of the day off on the first-place team: Does it help or hinder your performance?
“We had a day off which is always a bit of a tough go, just because you’re sitting around. We were trying to do as much as we can to make the day fly as fast as possible,” Tardi said. “Nobody wants to just sit around and you feel like it’s been a week since you’ve played. We know that feeling and we’ve been prepared for it, so it helped out today.”
Team Tardi will now represent B.C. in the Canadian junior curling championships from Jan. 19 to 27 in Prince Albert, Sask.
Now that they own the province, Team Tardi can devote themselves to prepping for their return visit to nationals.
“It’s always a thought in the back of your head whenever you’re playing, and for most Canadians, it’s the ultimate goal just to play in that,” he said. “Since we’re doing that we can think about it as soon as possible, maybe celebrate for a bit and get back going at it. We’re ready for some big fights.”
Team Tardi the 2017 and 2018 Canadian Junior Curling Championships and will be looking to win that event for a third year in a row, something which has never been done before.
