(PEICA) The Sunday afternoon finals of the annual JSI OVCA Junior SuperSpiel in Ottawa were won by Scotland’s Hannah Fleming, 8-5 over Lynn Kreviazuk of Ontario, and Northern Ontario’s Brennan Wark, 8-6 over Stuart Thompson of Nova Scotia. PEI’s Sam Ramsay and Sarah Fullerton rinks, and the Halifax team skipped by PEI native Anita Casey all lost out in the consolation finals, with Casey losing 7-5 to Jeffrey Stewart pf Quebec, Ramsay falling 8-1 to Evie Fortier of Ontario, and Fullerton losing 8-4 to the eventual consolation round winners, Canada’s Youth Olympics team, with O’Leary’s Emily Gray at lead. Note that men’s and women’s teams compete in the consolation round. The Youth Olympics team was the only mixed entry in the event. The Canadian Curling Association has more on the Youth Olympics Team consolation round win:
Youth Olympics Team wins Consolation Event at JSI OVCA Junior Superspiel (CCA)
After getting off to a slow start, Canada’s Youth Olympics curling team rattled off four straight wins to capture the Consolation Event at the John Shea Insurance OVCA Junior Superspiel in Ottawa this weekend.
Team Canada skip Thomas Scoffin watches second Derek Oryniak (left) and lead Emily Gray (right) sweep his rock down the ice at the JSI OVCA Superspiel in Ottawa (Photo Brennan Schnell)
The team, consisting of skip Thomas Scoffin of Whitehorse, third Corryn Brown of Kamloops BC, second Derek Oryniak of Winnipeg MB, and lead Emily Gray of O’Leary PEI, fought back from three losses on the first day of competition and battled their way through the consolation round.
The Youth Olympians notched up two wins on Saturday and another on Sunday morning against a tough Ottawa Curling Club team skipped by Melissa Gannon.
The teams exchanged single points and steals until an extra end, when Scoffin made an out-turn hit and stick for the point to win – sending Team Canada into the semi-finals.
In a rematch against Lyon-Hatcher (they battled in the second game of the event), Team Canada blanked one and scored their deuce in the second.
“It was a great game,” reports coach Helen Radford. “Both teams played well and the opposition made some nice run-backs.”
In a scary fourth end, skip Scoffin made a triple take-out followed by a perfect draw to score one point and save the end. A solid deuce in the sixth forced Lyon-Hatcher to blank the seventh. Team Canada took control, defending the eighth and running their opponents out of rocks for the 5-3 win.
Skip Thomas Scoffin flanked by sweepers Derek Oryniak and Emily Gray (Photo Brennan Schnell)
In the final against Huntley’s Evie Fortier, Team Canada blanked the first, then traded singles until the fifth, where they scored a big three points to take a 5-2 lead into six.
Fortier battled back, but Team Canada was ready for them, snatching the win with a steal in eight, and another steal in the extra end.
Coach Helen Radford was proud of her young foursome. Scoffin, Brown, Oryniak and Gray were selected for Team Canada last March and have been training on and off the ice with Radford and other high-performance coaches in preparation for the 2012 Youth Olympic Games to be held in Innsbruck, Austria, this February. The JSI OVCA Junior Superspiel gave them their first opportunity to play in a competitive event against very accomplished teams.
“After starting the weekend at 0-3, the team gained momentum and rattled off four wins in a row,” she said. ”The team showed a lot of determination and worked really well together all weekend.”