They鈥檙e in a league of their own.
A young Langley-based curling team 鈥� headed up by skip Tyler Tardi and vice-skip Sterling Middleton 鈥� has etched its name in the record book today.
The duo won their third New Holland Canadian Junior title in a row 鈥� a feat never before accomplished.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unreal the fact that this has only been done twice before and how this is such a rare feat,鈥� Tardi said of his accomplishment with Middleton. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an incredible feeling and to be doing it with one of my best friends is extra special.鈥�
The British Columbia team is made up of Tardi (a Cloverdale skip who plays out of the Langley Curling Centre), Middleton (the third who hails from Fort. St. John, and curls out of New Westminster), Matthew Hall (second, who lives in Cloverdale but also plays out of the Langley rink), and Alex Horvath (the lead who plays out of Victoria). The coach is Tyler鈥檚 father, Paul.
Manitoba was the only team, who in the week leading up to the finals, was actually able to beat British Columbia. But Manitoba couldn鈥檛 do it a second time.
When it came to the gold-medal round today (Sunday) at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert, Sask., Tardi and his team triumphed over J.T. Ryan鈥檚 Manitoba team by the score of 7-5.
Team BC opened the scoring in the second end with an angle raise takeout for three.
But Manitoba鈥檚 Ryan took control of the middle portion of the game. Ryan, vice-skip Jacques Gauthier (Tardi鈥檚 cousin), second Jordan Peters, lead Cole Chandler and coach John Lund scored two in the fourth and followed it with a steal of two in the fifth to lead by one point heading into the fifth-end break.
鈥淲e鈥檙e no stranger to giving up threes early. If you鈥檙e going to give up a three you want to give it up in the second end. We know we鈥檝e been resilient all week and we knew if we could string some shots together we could battle back and that鈥檚 what we did,鈥� Ryan said.
But British Columbia took control in the latter part of the game with a deuce in the eighth and a steal of one in the ninth end to lead 6-5. Manitoba had hammer in the final end, but over-swept its final attempt, causing the stone clip off another and give up a steal of one.
鈥淭hey played unreal and we played one of our best games I鈥檇 say we ever played together too. It just wasn鈥檛 enough. It was an inch here or there,鈥� Ryan said.
With today鈥檚 win, Tardi and Middleton surpass the likes of John Morris, Craig Savill and Brent Laing 鈥� among others 鈥� who have all won back-to-back titles, but never a third.
Tardi and Middleton won their first New Holland Canadian Juniors title in 2017 in Victoria against their current second Hall, who was representing Ontario at the time.
鈥淚t was very emotional to see him kind of go crazy there,鈥� Middleton said of his second鈥檚 reaction to winning the national title. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how we all felt on our first one and I鈥檓 really excited he was on the right side of that one this time, because there鈥檚 no worse feeling than losing a big game like that.鈥�
The pair returned as part of the British Columbia team in Shawinigan, Que., in 2018 and defeated Northern Ontario鈥檚 Tanner Horgan in the final. While all three victories were sweet, Tardi believes they all hold a part in his memory for distinct reasons.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to pinpoint one that鈥檚 most special,鈥� he said.
鈥淭he first is unreal just because it鈥檚 the first time. Second we got to tie the record with some of the great junior curlers like John Morris and now to pass them is just an unbelievable feeling.鈥�
The team will represent Canada at the 2019 World Junior Curling Championships in Liverpool, N.S. from Feb. 16 to 23.
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