Kyle Habkirk rang in the new year with a silver medal performance at the B.C. Junior Men’s Curling Championship last weekend.
The Coquitlam skip had a strong showing in the qualifier and semifinal round, but came up short against Team Tardi, which defeated Habkirk, who was playing with a Victoria rink, 11-5 in the finals.
Team Habkirk kicked off the playoffs with a 7-4 win over Team Sato, which plays out of the Royal City Curling Club, during the 13th draw. Despite Sato jumping out to a 3-1 lead in the early ends, Habkirk came back with a strong showing in the second half of the match to take the win.
That set the stage for a semifinal bout against the Royal City Curling Club’s Team McCrady, led by Port Coquitlam skip Matthew McCrady along with Richmond’s Brayden Carpenter and Coquitlam’s Zac Curtis and Jacob Umbach.
Once again, Team Habkirk came alive in the later ends, overcoming a 1-0 deficit to eventually win the match 4-3 and punching their ticket to the championship finals.
Meanwhile, McCrady and his rink received a bronze medal for their efforts.
On the women’s side, Team Brown was victorious after defeating Team Daniels 7-4 in the championship draw.
The rink, which features skip Corryn Brown from Kamloops, third Marika Van Osch from Nanaimo, Dezeray Hawes of Anmore and lead Samantha Fisher from Kamloops, had gone undefeated throughout the B.C. Junior Women’s Curling Championship.
Hawes and Van Osch were former members of Team Daniels before joining up with Fisher and Brown a year ago. In that time, the new foursome has won the Rick Cotter Memorial Junior Bonspiel and competed in the Grand Slam of Curling last month.
Team Brown also won gold after being selected to represent Canada in an international competition against China.
@TriCityNews
