This year, the winning teams at the O’Connor Glass Provincial Under 18 Curling Championships got to choose whether they would attend the Atlantic Under 18 Curling Championships, March 28-31 at the Caribou Curling Club in Stephenville NL, or represent Atlantic Canada at the Optimist International Under 18 Curling Championships, March 27-31 in Surrey and Langley BC. It has been confirmed that both winning teams, skipped by Tony Nabuurs and Jenny McLean, have opted to go to the Optimist International, while the runner-up teams, skipped by Tyler Smith and Emily Keen, will be going to the Atlantic Championships. The opportunity to go to the Optimist rotates among the four Atlantic provinces, and it’s PEI’s turn this year.
Here are pictures of the winning teams from the PEI Under 18 Championships:
L-R David O’Connor – Sponsor O’Connor Glass Ltd., Lead Noah
O’Connor, 2nd Allan MacLean, 3rd Parker O’Connor, Skip Tony Nabuurs, Coach
Glen MacLean, and John O’Connor Sponsor
L-R David O’Connor – Sponsor O’Connor Glass Ltd., Lead: Emily
Vaniderstein, 2nd Ava Whitney-Coulter, 3rd Lauren MacFadyen, Skip Jenny
McLean, Coach Dr. Don Vickerson, Sponsor John O’Connor
Here are the runners-up:
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L-R John O’Connor Sponsor, Coach Tammy Dewar, Skip Tyler Smith, 3rd Brook Roche,
2nd Dylan Lowery, Lead Ryan Lowery and David O’Connor – Sponsor: O’Connor
Glass Ltd.
L-R: Coaches Butch McGee, David Ross, Emily Keen – Skip, Jessica Watts – 3rd, Kayla Schut – 2nd, Jenny Mutch – Lead, David O’Connor, John O’Connor – O’Connor Glass Ltd. Sponsors
During the closing ceremonies, the Fairplay and Coaching awards were handed out.
The Curl PEI Fair Play awards, as voted on by all the teams at the event, are presented annually to an Under 18 men’s and a U18 women’s player who demonstrate sportsmanship and fair play both on and off the ice. The junior women’s award went to Emily Keen, skip of this year’s runner-up rink, from the Charlottetown Curling Complex. Keen also won the Fair Play award this year at the Pepsi Juniors.
L-R: David O’Connor – Event Sponsor, Emily Keen – Winner Women Fair Player Award, Gayle Johnston – Curl PEI Junior Event Coordinator, Sponsor John O’Connor
The Junior Men’s Fair Play award went to Parker O’Connor, third on the winning Tony Nabuurs rink, from the Charlottetown Curling Complex, and the, Montague, and Maple Leaf clubs.
L-R: David O’Connor – Event Sponsor, Parker O’Connor Fair Play Award Winner; Gayle
Johnston Curl PEI Jr. Event Co-Ordinator, John O’Connor – Event Sponsor
The winners of the Coaching awards, as voted on by their coaching peers, went to Tammy Dewar, coach of the runner-up Tyler Smith team, and Pat Quilty, coach of the Rachel O’Connor rink from Cornwall. Dewar and Quilty also won the Coaching awards at the Pepsi Juniors this year.
L-R: Coaching award winner Tammy Dewar, David and John O’Connor – Event Sponsors
Coaching award winner Pat Quilty (file photo)
The coaching awards go to a men’s and a women’s team coach, and are judged on the following criteria
– Demonstrating respect for officials, opponents, host committee and curling associations.
– Demonstrating a philosophy of fair play, good sportsmanship and attitudes that reflect the coaching code of ethics.
– Demonstrating concern for all-round development of the athlete and instilling guidelines reflecting responsible conduct beyond the curling rink.
– Presenting, through example, a positive image of coaching.
– Demonstrating ability to improve the athletic performance of a team or athlete.
– Demonstrating ability to apply athlete development and coaching techniques as outlined in the National Coaching Certification Program.
(Photos courtesy of Rachel O’Connor and Debra Smith)