Canada’s teams remain in playoff contention at world junior curling

GANGNEUNG, Korea, Republic Of — Canada’s Tyler Tardi and Kristen Streifel remain in position for playoffs at the midway point of the world junior curling championships.

Tardi and his B.C. team from Langley/New Westminster — vice-skip Sterling Middleton, second Jordan Tardi, lead Nick Meister, and alternate Nicholas Rabl — split their two games on Sunday to move into third place in the men’s standings.

In the morning game, Canada was fast out of the blocks against Italy’s Marco Onnis, racking up a 7-2 lead after four ends and they kept the pressure on until handshakes after six ends.

“We just wanted to keep our energy up and play as well as we have been,” Tardi said after the 9-2 win. “I think we achieved that goal for the most part. It’s kind of tough to keep your focus up for the game. I’m proud of the guys.”

The Canadians couldn’t muster any offence in the evening game, dropping a 6-2 decision to Andrew Stopera of the U.S. 

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“I thought the guys played great, I just couldn’t make the key shots, so if I start making those then I think we’ll be set and ready to go,” Tardi said.

Canada and the U.S. are tied for third at the midway point of round robin, behind South Korea and Norway.

Streifel and her Edmonton-based team of vice-skip Chantele Broderson, second Kate Goodhelpsen, lead Brenna Bilassy and alternate Karlee Burgess, beat South Korea’s Min Ji Kim 7-4 to move into a three-way tie for first place with Scotland and Sweden.

Canada led 6-4 heading into the tenth without hammer and needed some big shots from the skip to prevent the South Koreans from forcing the extra end.

“Before (the last stone) I just knew if we could manage that shot really well we would leave ourselves in a really great position and make them have to make a tough shot for the win,” Streifel said. “(Going forward), I think we just need to take advantage of the momentum on our side right now and try to carry that through into each game and keep building.”

The round robin continues on Monday with both teams playing just one game. Streifel faces Russia’s Maria Baksheeva while Tardi plays Norway’s Magnus Ramsfjell.

The Canadian Press