The inaugural Canadian Under-18 Boys and Girls Curling Championships saw the first-ever champions crowned in Moncton, N.B., on Saturday night.
Local curler Kate Sherry, curling on Team Brunton out of the Sudbury Curling Club, won the inaugural championship by beating number one ranked New Brunswick.
Twelve girls and 12 boys team from across the country, and representing their province, competed this week.
Team Brunton was ranked #10 in the country. Their goal coming to the event was to make the championship seeding pool.
The team went 4-1 and finished first in their pool in round robin action. They beat highly ranked Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland. Their only lost was to Ontario. The top three teams in each division crossed over and played the top three teams in the other division. This group formed the championship seeding pool.
Team Brunton lost to Quebec, beat Nova Scotia and lost to the host favourite New Brunswick. New Brunswick finished first and Team Brunton finished tied for second with three other teams. As a result of their games with teams in this pool, they finished second.
Championship day began with semifinal play. Team Brunton and her team of third Kate Sherry, second Sydnie Stinson, lead Jessica Leonard and coach Steve Acorn held control over Nova Scotia’s Cally Moore throughout the entire game, stealing three ends on the way to a 6-1 win. In the other semifinal, Quebec’s Gabrielle Lavoie gave New Brunswick’s Justine Comeau all she could handle, as it came down to an open hit in an extra end for New Brunswick to score a single for the 6-5 win.
That led to a New Brunswick (8-1 record) vs. Northern Ontario (6-3 record) final. New Brunswick was forced to take one in the first and Kira Brunton made a double takeout in the second to score 4. Team Brunton kept the pressure on and were sitting 5 in the 4th when the NB skip drew to the button to take one. Kate Sherry made a couple of difficult doubles in the sixth to deflate team New Brunswick. The Northern Ontario girls kept the pressure on for the remainder of the game. Northern Ontario held control and ran Comeau out of rocks in the final after another double by skip Kira Brunton to become the first-ever Under-18 Girls Canadian champion. They won 8-4.
The Northern Ontario boys also won gold by defeating Team Nova Scotia 4-2.
