(by Charles Reid)
Veronica and Tyler Smith (no relation) win their divisions at the P.E.I. junior curling championships
CORNWALL — Despite not being related, Veronica Smith and Tyler Smith have a lot in common.
And more so after each won their respective Pepsi provincial junior curling titles Sunday at the Cornwall Curling Club.
Tyler’s squad scored a 6-2 win over the Christopher Gallant rink of the Charlottetown Curling Club in the men’s final while Veronica’s crew downed the Amanda MacLean rink 9-5 in the women’s final.
Guardian photo by Brian McInnis
“I don’t even know (what to say). It’s unbelievable,” said Veronica, 18, of the win over her Cornwall clubmates. “The girls were behind me the whole game. We trained so hard for this. We just went out focused. We knew we could do it.”
Veronica’s group, which went 3-1 in the round robin losing to MacLean, scored five times in the eighth end to break open a 4-4 tie.
The Smiths earned a berth in the M&M Meat Shops Canadian juniors Feb. 2 to 10, in Fort McMurray, Alta.
Guardian photo by Brian McInnis
Tyler, 14, had a similar reaction to his squad’s victory. Also based out of the Cornwall club, it includes Alex Sutherland (third), Alex Jenkins (second) and Jonathan Schut (lead).
“I don’t know. I’m speechless,” Tyler said. “It’s amazing considering the road we took to get there.”
Tyler’s road meant a tiebreaker on Sunday for the 3-3 team, which they won in an extra end, and a semifinal win over the Cody Dixon rink from Montague to reach the final.
And like Veronica, the eighth end was the clincher in the title contest.
Up 3-2, Tyler hit a three-rock angle raise that made the score 6-2 and put things out of reach.
“We were really untouchable after that,” said Tyler, who skipped the 2011 Canada Games men’s rink and is the defending under-16 provincial champion.
As for the trips to the nationals, neither skip had an idea of what to expect, although Veronica had a few ideas.
“It’s going to be freezing,” she said with a laugh. “We have a hard month ahead of us. Have to go hard and represent our province well.”
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