Amy Edwards’ North Okanagan rink made quick work of its opposition to earn a berth in the B.C. Winter Games, Feb. 23-26 in Greater Vernon.
Edwards, a Grade 11 VSS student – backed by third Shayna Doll of Salmon Arm, second Kylie Tokairin of Enderby and lead Sydney Hofer, a Fulton student – went 2-0 to win the juvenile regional playdowns last weekend at the Salmon Arm Curling Club.
“It’s very exciting. Never been before but I’m looking forward to it,” grinned Edwards, who has curled for eight years (four competitively).
“We knew B.C. Winter Games were this year and that was our goal, so when we went to playdowns our goal was to win, and we did.”
Edwards, coached by Merry Miller, is stoked to be performing on a big sporting stage in her hometown, and believes the familiarity will work in her team’s favour.
“We know the ice, we know the area, and especially since we’re staying in schools, we might be staying in one of our own schools and we’ll know where everything is. It’s definitely going to be beneficial.”
After opening the six-team playdown by shading defending Canada Winter Games champion Corryn Brown of Kamloops 5-4 in an extra end, Edwards rallied with points in five straight ends to brush back Jenean Siemens 8-3 in the A final.
“The game with Corryn was very close,” said Edwards. “We were playing solid and Corryn’s team struggled a little bit, especially on some critical shots.
“The game against Jenean was a little rough in the beginning, but we got our feet back under us and picked it up.”
Brown rallied with three straight wins, capped by an 8-3 win over Siemens to earn the other Games berth.
In the three-team juvenile men’s playdowns in Salmon Arm, Armstrong skip Brendan Cliff went 3-0 to earn the lone Winter Games qualifier.
Cliff is supported by third Brendan Chapple, who played with a broken left arm, also of Armstrong, and front-enders Devon Schmidt and Matthew Young, both from Vernon, and alternate Derek King of Salmon Arm. The team is coached by Sandra Farynuk of Enderby with assistance from Tyler Young of Vernon.
The Cliff rink won its first two games with identical 10-4 scores Saturday, stopping Vernon’s Thomas Love (third Jonathan Shwartz, second Greg Geistlinger and lead Matt Schiman) and Kamloops’ Steven Schafthuizen.
Love rallied by hammering Schafthuizen 13-2, but fell 7-3 to Cliff in the championship game Sunday.
After allowing singles in one and two, Cliff responded with points in three and four to tie the game 2-2 at the break.
Cliff buried a rock behind cover in the fifth end that allowed them to steal a point in five, but Love responded with a nice draw to equalize in six.
A three-ender by the Cliff crew in seven put the game away.
