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North Delta’s Team Daniels advances to second round at junior curling nationals

Daniels led her fellow Delta Thistle curlers, competing as Team B.C., to a 5-1 in the first round
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North Delta’s Team Daniels are representing B.C. at the 2019 New Holland Canadian Junior Championships in Prince Albert, Sask. (Melanie Johnson/Curling Canada photo)

British Columbia’s young women curlers are that much closer to winning a national title after decisively qualifying for the second round at this year’s New Holland Canadian Junior Championships in Prince Albert, Sask.

Lead by skip Sarah Daniels and based out of the Delta Thistle Curling Club, the team finished the preliminaries with a 5-1 record.

After pummeling Nunavut and Ontario in back-to-back games last Saturday — 14-0 and 12-3, respectively — Team Daniels fell to Alberta 8-6 on Sunday, before scoring a narrow 8-7 victory against Nova Scotia on Monday. In the last two round-robin games, the team bested the hosts 8-4 and Northern Ontario 7-4.

Team B.C. is now playing in the championship pool, defeating Manitoba 15-6 on Wednesday before falling to Quebec 5-7 Thursday morning. They went on to beat Saskatchewan 9-7 Thursday afternoon. Daniels and her teammates play their final game of this round against New Brunswick on Friday. If Team B.C. finishes in the top three of their pool, they will advance to the play-offs.

RELATED: Delta’s Daniels takes provincial junior crown

Melissa Soligo, Curl BC’s high performance coach and director, said the women are “a bit on a roll,” given the talent of the other teams. She does not see the tournament getting any easier as the field gets narrower.

“Obviously, they are playing the top teams of the other pool and, from the games that I have watched, it looks like they’ve got a really great handle on the ice and rocks, and they are working really well together,” Soligo said.

Should Daniels post the best overall record after 10 games, her team will automatically go to the finals, but if they rank second or third, the women will have to duke it out in the semis on Saturday.

B.C.’s junior men’s team, lead by skip Tyler Tardi, had a commanding 6-0 record coming out of the first round and will face Northern Ontario, Manitoba, Quebec and Nova Scotia in the championship pool.

READ MORE: Team BC advancing undefeated in junior nationals

Curling Canada will be streaming the games live on its Facebook page (facebook.com/curlingcanada) for those who want to follow the action.



sasha.lakic@northdeltareporter.com

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North Delta’s Team Daniels are representing B.C. at the 2019 New Holland Canadian Junior Championships in Prince Albert, Sask. (Melanie Johnson/Curling Canada photo)
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North Delta’s Team Daniels are representing B.C. at the 2019 New Holland Canadian Junior Championships in Prince Albert, Sask. (Melanie Johnson/Curling Canada photo)