Team Hafeli from the Kamloops Curling Club captured the U21 B.C. women's curling title over the weekend (Image Credit: Curl BC)

By Chad Klassen

B.C. JUNIOR CURLING CHAMPIONS

Hafeli rink from Kamloops looks ahead to junior nationals after B.C. win

Mar 1, 2022 | 1:59 PM

KAMLOOPS — Holly Hafeli’s B.C. junior curling win on Sunday marks the sixth time a Kamloops rink has won the U21 championship, following in the footsteps of Corryn Brown (2013, 2015, 2017), Sandra Plut (1982) and Leslie Carin (1971).

“It’s really cool,” said Hafeli, not able to hold back her smile and excitement. “When I did my first [post-game] interview with the commentators, it was like I hadn’t settled in yet, but not it has and it’s super cool. I’m super excited to play in Ontario.”

The girls are off to the national junior curling championships March 25 to Apr. 1 in Stratford, Ont.

Team Hafeli was dominant through the B.C. championship, going undefeated and showing its prowess in the final on Sunday. Hafeli’s rink broke it open in the sixth with a deuce, followed by one in the seventh, four in the eighth, and then two more in the ninth to put the nail in the coffin.

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“It was pretty incredible. Honestly, it didn’t really settle in for a while,” said the team’s third Jorja Koptyko. “I just cleared the stones and walked down to the other end and it was only once I looked at the parents that I realized that I’m going to nationals. It was pretty breathtaking.”

The Hafeli rink, which includes sisters Holly and Natalie, are the first junior team from Kamloops to win since Corryn Brown, who won the B.C. title in 2013, 2015 and 2017, also winning the national junior championship in 2013. Holly says she and the rest of her team have looked up to the Brown rink and what they’ve been able to accomplish.

“It’s definitely given me confidence for sure,” said Hafeli on being able to follow in Brown’s success. “We’ve had a lot of support from her team. They’re always watching us. Corryn’s dad watches our games a lot. Ken’s a really big supporter.”

The team’s third Jorja Koptyko added, “They’ve certainly been a team that we’ve always looked up to. I know when I first started curling, I actually played with Corryn Brown in a women’s league, so just fun play, but they’ve always been a team we’ve looked up to and watched them succeed and grow and fuel our fire.”

The one challenge the Hafeli rink might face is a lack of experience, never having played a non-B.C. team.

“Because of that, we don’t quite know what to expect, except for some good competition and a new place, so it’ll be a lot of new experiences for our team,” said Koptyko.

Holly Hafeli added, “We want to do good obviously — we want to be Team Canada — but we’re definitely going there for the experience for sure. We haven’t played anybody outside of B.C. before, so it’ll be different and the strategy will be different and the ice is different for sure because it’s in an arena instead of not in a rink.”

Before heading nationals, the Hafeli rink have one more stop and that is Kelowna for the B.C. High School Curling Championships that begin Wednesday.

The Kamloops team, which won the last provincial high school championships held in 2020, has a good chance to capture the title again.