TRURO – Jonathan Crouse and his team of curlers know full well the benefits of staying positive at a tournament.
They’ve both reaped the benefits from it and felt the repercussions when they didn’t this season as they head into the Under-18 Atlantic boys championship Friday in Charlottetown. The event runs until Sunday.
Crouse and his Truro rink of mate Andrew Burgess, second Isaac MacDonell and lead Aaron Langille open against host Jeffrey Taylor of Cornwall Friday at 2:30 p.m.
“When we get down on ourselves it just makes things worse,” Burgess said. “But when we stay positive we play like we should.”
Case in point. The foursome dropped its first game at last month’s provincial tournament in Pugwash. At a double-knockout event, that would basically spell the end of any team’s chances. But Crouse reeled off six consecutive wins to take the title and earn a berth at this weekend’s tournament.
“We just dropped that game we lost and moved on played hard and stayed positive and that really helped out a lot,” Crouse said.
It was a valuable lesson to learn ahead of this weekend, where the team is sure to face some adversity against the best from P.E.I., New Brunswick and Newfoundland.