Three local curlers are hoping to make some noise at the upcoming U18 national championships that begin Feb. 4 in Ottawa.
Coquitlam’s Harrison Hrynew and Port Moody’s Ethan Chiu are part of Team Beck out of Salmon Arm that will represent B.C. at the boys championship while Ashley Fenton of Port Moody will be the second on a girls team comprised of curlers from Vancouver, Langley and Burnaby.
All three have faced the pressure of competing for a national championship before.
Hrynew and Chiu were part of a Port Moody Curling Club trio skipped by Adrain Tam and supplemented by third Austin Tomlinson from Salmon Arm that failed to win a match and finished seventh in its pool at last year’s national championship in Timmins, Ont.
But with Tam and Tomlinson aged out, Hrynew and Chiu connected with skip Salmon Arm’s Kaiden Beck and his brother, Nolan, the team’s second.
Coached by Vernon’s Dale Hofer, the foursome cruised to a 12-6 win in just seven ends in December’s U18 provincial championships at the Victoria Curling Club.
Fenton also was part of a championship, as her team skipped by Vancouver’s Erin Fitzgibbon won the girls final in Victoria 9-4.
Last year, Fenton was second on a team out of Comox that finished eighth at the U18 nationals.
All three of the local curlers have already tasted success with their high school teams.
Fenton skipped her Heritage Woods Secondary side to a silver at the regional playdowns, while Hrynew skipped his Centennial Secondary foursome to a similar result.
Chiu, meanwhile, will be able to bring his experience at the national level into play when he leads his team from Heritage Woods to the provincial high school championships to be held Feb. 28 to March 2 at the Kelowna Curling Club.
