The Chronicle Herald
Published: March 12, 2018 – 8:20am
The Halifax Curling Club team of Kaitlyn Jones captured the gold medal for Canada at the world junior curling championships in Aberdeen, Scotland, on Saturday morning.
Jones, third Kristin Clarke, second Karlee Burgess and lead Lindsey Burgess defeated Isabella Wranaa’s Swedish team 7-4.
Also members of the championship team are alternate Lauren Lenentine and coach Andrew Atherton.
This marks the second time in three years a team from Nova Scotia has won the world title for Canada. Clarke and Karlee Burgess were members of Mary Fay’s Chester rink that won the championship in 2016.
Sweden, the defending world champions, struck first in the championship with a single in the second end, but Jones answered with two in third end and three in fifth for a 5-2 lead.
Canada added a single in the seventh and a steal of one in the eighth for a 7-3 lead. Sweden could only score one in the ninth.
“It’s indescribable, I feel amazing right now,” said an elated Jones told Curl Canada after the game. “I know I put everything out there on the line today and came out on top, and that’s an incredible feeling.
“It (was our) goal to force them to one, and we got the end-goal that we wanted,” she said of the rink’s strategy for the final. “Whenever they had the hammer we wanted to keep them close to one.”
Jones moved to Nova Scotia this season from Saskatchewan and joined up with Clarke and the Burgess cousins to form a championship team.
“I’m super proud of my team. We’ve worked so hard to get here, and for me moving all the way across Canada to play with them, it was one of the best decisions I’ve made.”
Clarke led the Canadian team in the final, curling 95 per cent. Jones wasn’t far behind at 93 per cent while Karlee Burgess was 79 and Lindsey Burgess 78.
Sweden entered the final with 10 straight wins, including a 8-6 victory over Canada in the final round robin game on Thursday.
China’s Zixin Wang captured the bronze medal with an 11-5 victory over Norway’s Maia Ramsfjell.
The Canadian junior men, skipped by Tyler Tardi, needed an extra end to beat Scotland’s Ross Whyte 6-5 in the men’s final.
Tardi and his Langley, B.C., team of third Sterling Middleton, second Jordan Tardi, lead Zachary Curtis, alternate Jacques Gauthier and coach Paul Tardi beat a tough Scottish team that went undefeated throughout the competition.
The final two ends saw mistakes by both teams and Tardi’s heavy draw on his last shot of the 10th sent the championship into the extra end.
Tardi made good on his last shot in the extra end, drawing to out-count the two Scottish stones in the rings and winning another gold for Canada.
“I don’t know, I’ve been dreaming about this moment,” said Tardi told Curl Canada. “To finally have it come true is unbelievable. I can’t believe I’m standing here.”
