Two rinks from the Juan de Fuca Curling Club are in the hunt for provincial titles at the Tim Horton's B.C. Junior Men's and Junior Women's Curling Championships in Parksville this week.
The men's team, skipped by Connor Croteau, lost a nailbiter in their opening game Monday morning, 8-7 to the Thomas Love rink from Vernon.
Croteau, playing with third Matt MacDonald, second Derek Chandler and lead Scott Gray, erased a 5-4 deficit in the eighth end by scoring three to go up 7-5. After the teams blanked the ninth, Love scored three in the 10th to win.
The Croteau foursome, coached by Bob Coulombe, is currently playing the 1:30 p.m. draw against the Zane Bartlett rink from Grand Forks at the Parksville Curling Club.
The Juan de Fuca women's team, skipped by Mariah Coulombe; with Bailey Tinkler at third, Jordan Koster at second and Sydney Brilz playing lead; also lost its first game Monday, 9-3 to the Corryn Brown rink from Kamloops.
The Coulombe rink, coached by Andrew Komlodi, takes on the Briana Egan team from Coquitlam in the second draw at 6:30 p.m. today.
The round robin competitions run through Thursday, with Friday morning set aside for tiebreaker games. The semifinals go Friday afternoon, with the championship finals set for Saturday at 9 a.m. for the women and 1:30 p.m. for the men.
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