Corryn Brown of Kamloops and Tyler Tardi of Langley will soon be making regular appearances in Scotties and Brier tournaments.
For now, the utlra-talented teens are ruling the junior world and they both pocketed major cash in the 16th Rick Cotter Memorial Prestige Resorts Junior Curling Classic Sunday in Vernon.
Brown brushed back Sarah Daniels of New Westminster 8-1 in the girls’ final Sunday at the Vernon Curling Club. Brown collected $2,200, while Daniels earned $1,700. There were nine female foursomes.
Brown was the skip of the winning team at the 2013 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, and represented Canada at the 2013 World Juniors, where she was ninth.
Daniels lost 9-5 to Mary Fay of Nova Scotia in last year’s Canadian Junior Women’s gold-medal game in Stratford, Ont.
Backing Brown were Dezaray Hawes, Marika Van Osch and Samantha Fisher.
“It was a very successful weekend,” said cashspiel director Chelan Cotter, aided by her brother, Jim.
Tardi topped the eight-rink male side for $2,000, dispatching Jordan Kiss of New Westminster 8-4 in Sunday’s final. Kiss banked $1,500.
Tardi won the men’s side of the Prestige Curling Classic earlier this month in Vernon, trimming Japan’s Yusuke Morozumi 5-4 for $5,000. He was supported by Sterling Middleton, Jordan Tardi and Nicholas Meister.
Brown bounced Heather Drexel of Coquitlam, while Daniels downed Christine MacKay of Winnipeg in the semifinals.
Megan McGillvary of Kelowna toppled Mariah Coulombe of Victoria 7-3 in the consolation final.
Tardi, who struck gold at the 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, defeated Scott Wilson of Surrey, while Kiss clipped Thomas Love of Vernon in the semifinals.
lisa mazurek/morning star
Sterling Middleton, left, and Nick Meister, tend to house for Tyler Tardi of Langley in the men’s final
Kiss took home $850 for third place, shading Love 6-5. Love cashed in $650 for fourth. Love had Erik Colwell, Brendan Chapple and Logan Miron aboard.
Matthew McCrady of New Westminster took the consolation final and fifth place with an 8-4 win over Jesse Monette of Vernon.
Rick Cotter started a cashspiel in 1999 and after he died in 2005, the McArthur Island Curling Club in Kamloops re-named it the Rick Cotter Memorial Junior Cashspiel and ran the event until 2011.
Chelan and Jim jumpstarted the extravaganza after a three-year hiatus.
Keynote speaker at Friday night’s taco dinner was Wiinipeg’s Cathy Gauthier, a world-class curler and TSN and Global TV broadcaster. Gauthier coached her daughter Christine MacKay’s rink in Vernon.
Gauthier, 55,urged the juniors to stay committed to the sport for life either as a player, coach or volunteer.
“Make this a focal point of your life,” she said. “This is what you do away from school so take chances to get to where you want to go and listen to your coaches.”
She said team chemistry trumps talent and noted that great teams have fun while being relaxed in competition.
“What happens to your body when you feel relaxed and are having fun, that’s what you want on the ice. You don’t want to be uptight.”
Gauthier was the longtime second for Connie Laliberte and last played the lead position on the 2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts winner Jennifer Jones.
Gauthier also won two championships with Laliberte in 1992 and 1995, before winning with Jones in 2005. She is one of the few women to win three national championships.
She talked about fellow broadcaster Brian Mudryk’s courageous fight with cancer and called legendary curler/broadcaster Russ Howard “the most naive man out there.
“One night in Moncton, Russ was having trouble sleeping. We told him that Red Bull and vodka was the recipe for sleep. He believed us and was up all night.”
She called curler/broadcaster Cheryl Bernard of Calgary “the most fit woman in the world. It’s ridiculous. She just climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro.”