UPDATE:
In day one of competition at the provincial men’s championships, the Tardi brothers – Tyler and Jordan – went head to head.
Tyler and his team, known as Team Tardi, emerged triumphant.
In Tardi vs. Tardi (or Team Wenzek), Tyler beat his older brother this afternoon by the score of 8-5.
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Fresh off their record-breaking third consecutive national win in junior curling, Tyler Tardi and his team are getting a day’s rest before hitting the ice again Tuesday – this time playing in the men’s provincials in Quesnel.
The ice is ready, the teams have arrived, and the city of Quesnel is ready for the 2019 B.C. men’s and women’s curling championships to begin at 9 a.m. tomorrow.
But for Tyler – now a seasoned veteran in the junior rankings – this upcoming competition presents a new set of hurdles. Not only are he and the rest of the team still in shock from their win, but they’re going up against what promises to be some stiff competition.
This time out in the provincial men’s contest, he’s not playing with his older brother, Jordan – but rather, he’s playing against him.
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On the list of 12 men’s teams participating, there are two teams with strong ties to Langley – Team Tardi and Team Wenzek.
The first – coached by the boys’ father, Paul – features Tyler (the Cloverdale skip who plays out of Langley Curling Centre), Sterling Middleton (the third who hails from Fort. St. John, and curls out of New Westminster), Matthew Hall (second, who lives in Cloverdale and also plays out of the Langley rink) and Alex Horvath (the lead, out of Victoria).
The second is Team Wenzek. This team is made up of skip Daniel Wenzek of New Westminster, third Jared Kolomaya of Kamloops, and a pair curling out of Langley Curling Centre, Jordan Tardi as second and Nicholas Meister as lead.
Like Jordan, Meister is a former member of Team Tardi, as well as a long-time family friend. Both of these men have played with the Tardi team at the provincial, national, and world levels as juniors. But both aged out of the junior rankings in the past few years.
So, while it might be like old times for the Tardis when they gather to eat this evening during the opening banquet, the proverbial gloves will come off tomorrow morning when they begin fighting for the title at the West Fraser Centre.
The 2019 BC Men’s Curling Championship features a dozen teams vying for a chance to represent the province at the 2019 Tim Hortons Brier, which is taking place March 2 to 10 in Brandon, Man.
Meanwhile, the 2019 Scotties BC Women’s Curling Championship features eight teams competing for a chance to represent B.C. at the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, which is taking place Feb. 16 to 24 in Sydney, N.S.
The men’s final will be taking place at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 3, with the women’s final following on the same day at 2 p.m. Both finals, as well as the men’s semifinal and the women’s 3-4 page game, will be livestreamed on cbcsports.ca and broadcast on Shaw Spotlight.
Live scores and schedules will be available at playdowns.curlbc.ca. More information, including rosters, can be found at quesnel2019.curlbc.ca.
