Some of Nova Scotia’s top U18 curlers celebrated a particularly special win Saturday night, earning the national title at the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon during the Canadian U18 Curling Championships.
The two rinks feared they might miss the tournament altogether just a week ago, after finding out their flights were cancelled due to an eastern Canadian snowstorm, effectively trapping the team in Halifax.
“We drove to Montreal which was like 13 or 14 hours and then got on a plane to Winnipeg,” said Zachary Atherton, skip of Nova Scotia’s Team Atherton. “We were supposed to go from Winnipeg to Calgary, but that got cancelled. Then we got a direct flight from Winnipeg to Saskatoon the next morning, so a lot of travel.”
Arriving in Saskatoon mid-week, they were forced to jam all of their round-robin games into a three-day stretch compared to other rinks that had days of competition already under their belts.
Despite the delayed start, however, the teams were all business and ‘Curling Day in Canada’ culminated in a pair of national U18 titles.
On the U18 boys side, the Atherton rink ran the table to complete a perfect 8-0 rink to claim the Canadian U18 championship 7-1 in six ends over the Tyler MacTavish rink from Ontario.
“It’s pretty surreal right now,” said Team Atherton third Alan Fawcett. “I’ve worked hard for this for so many years now. Just having this moment is kind of everything I dreamed of, so it’s pretty cool.”
It was a dominant performance for the foursome of Atherton, Fawcett, Tyler MacMullen and Jed Freeman on Saturday, as they raced out to a 5-0 lead on Ontario after the first two ends and never looked back.
Fast forward just half an hour later, a Nova Scotia earned a clean sweep as the Cassidy Blades rink defeated the Abby Desormeau rink out of Alberta 8-7 in the female final; they completed the week undefeated.
“We knew the field in Nova Scotia is really strong,” said Blades. “Proving that with both of us winning is just great. We’re really good friends with the guys’ team, so it was just awesome.”
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After Team Blades took a commanding 5-1 lead into the fourth end break, Team Desormeau answered with four points in the fifth end to tie up the championship game.
The Nova Scotia rink would fight back in the sixth end with a three-spot of their own, holding on for the win in eight ends.
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With Team Blades’ victory, there were two gold medals going home to the Atherton family, as third Stephanie Atherton celebrated with her younger brother after the conclusion of the championship game.
“I’ve been going to nationals for a long time and he’s been sitting there watching me,” said Stephanie. “It’s amazing to finally do something like this, on this scale with him.”
“It’s an amazing feeling.”
Separated by just one year, the pair have grown up curling together and, according to the Team Atherton skip, Saturday’s result had always been in the back of Zachary’s mind.
“I always thought we’d be able to do this together,” said Zachary. “I watched her so many years at nationals, finally I get to be here myself and do it with her. It just means so much more.”
Blades, Atherton, Anna MacNutt and Lily Mitchell will be bringing gold back to the Halifax Curling Club, along with the boys team after completing the ‘Bluenose sweep.’
Leaving Saskatoon with two national U18 titles, the rinks say it’s a breakthrough moment for Nova Scotia curling and the future of the sport in the province.
“It gives hope to some of those younger teams who are coming up to see these that they’ve been playing against for years,” said Stephanie. “If they have a close game against us, they know that they can have a close game on the national level. I think it’s a big deal and I’m really, really happy to show them that anything is possible.”
Also making the podium Saturday was Ontario’s Katrina Frlan rink who defeated the Ava Arndt rink from British Columbia 6-5 in an extra end to win bronze.
On the men’s side, the Zachary Janidlo rink from Quebec captured bronze with a 6-5 win over Alberta’s Peter Hlushak rink.
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