Staring at a quick 2-0 deficit in the first end of the 2016 Anita Cochrane Memorial Junior Classic’s women’s final, the Sarah Daniels rink remained cool, calm and collected.
From that point on, they were in control, cruising to a 12-4 victory over Kamloops’ Corryn Brown rink in a rematch of the 2015 inaugural event at the Royal City Curling Club.
The New Westminster classic is named for Cochrane, who was a high performance player and coach at the Royal City rink and a strong advocate for the junior program. She died in 2010.
The Daniels team, which calls both the Royal City and Delta Thistle curling clubs its home rinks, counted three in the second and two in the third before Brown countered with a pair to make it 5-4 after four ends. But the home squad increased its lead with a pair in the fifth, one in the sixth and a game-ending four in the seventh.
The Daniels rink, which were Canadian national finalists last January, includes third Sarah Loken, second Megan Daniels and lead Sydney Brilz. Brown’s squad includes Dezaray Hawes and Marika Van Osch, who were members of the Daniels team in the 2015 final and at the 2016 nationals.
The defending provincial champions, Daniels went undefeated over the three-day event, including an 8-1 victory over Victoria’s Mariah Coulombe in the semifinal.
On the junior men’s side, Jordan Kiss’s foursome broke a 2-2 draw by scoring two in the sixth and two more in the eighth to pull out a 6-3 win over Langley’s Tyler Tardi and capture the event’s junior men’s championship.
A year ago, it was Tardi’s team that came out on top 8-2. This time, by claiming the 2016 Cochrane Memorial junior men’s title, Kiss also secured a berth to this year’s provincials, having cracked the under-21 men’s circuit’s 100-point threshold.
The Royal City-based Kiss team, including third Travis Cameron, second Nicholas Umbach and lead Derek Chandler, posted a perfect 6-0 record, with a 6-1 decision over Scott Wilson earning them a ticket to the final.
New West’s Matthew McCrady’s rink finished third, beating Team Wilson 5-3.
