The U20 B.C. curling championships were held in Cloverdale Dec. 27-30.
Now three B.C. rinks—two men's and one women's—will compete at nationals in the Maritimes.
Team Hafeli captured gold on the women’s side (Skip – Holly Hafeli, Third – Jorja Kopytko, Second – Gabby Brissette, Lead – Natalie Hafeli, Coach – Monica Makar) and team Hrynew won gold on the men’s side (Skip – Harrison Hrynew, Third – Wesley Wu, Second – Taj McKenzie, Lead – Isaac Lauzon, Coach – Ken Krause).
B.C. gets to send two men’s teams to nationals, so the silver-medal winners, team Parkinson (Skip – Chris Parkinson, Third – Neil Imada, Second – Miles Reed, Lead – Jesse Tiede, Coach – Glenn Tiede) will also get to compete March 22-30 in Summerside, P.E.I. with the other two B.C. rinks.
Both gold medal winners enjoyed some recent success before the U20 tourney.
Team Hafeli also won the women’s open qualifier, held Dec. 13-15 in Abbotsford, and will also be competing in the 2025 B.C. Women’s Curling Championship to be held Jan. 20-26 in Langley.
Team Hrynew captured a silver in the B.C. U18 Championships the week before, Dec. 19-23, in Kimberley.
Sherri Taylor, events manager for Curl B.C., said ahead of the U20s, her organization was happy to be hosting an event in Cloverdale.
“Curl B.C. is thrilled to present the upcoming B.C. U20 Curling championships,” Taylor wrote in a press release. “Curl B.C. would like to recognize the support from the host club, Cloverdale Curling Club and the countless volunteers."
The Cloverdale tournament consisted of 10 men’s and six women's teams, which represented players and curling clubs from across B.C.
Those teams were, women: Arndt (Vernon CC, Kamloops CC), Bartlett (Fort St. John CC, Vancouver CC, Terrace CC, Victoria CC), Fitzgibbon (Royal City CC, Vancouver CC, Port Moody CC), Hafeli (Kamloops CC), Rempel (Kelowna CC), and Roosma (Nanaimo CC, Comox CC).
And men: Beck (Vernon, Salmon Arm, Kelowna), Harris (Campbell River, Victoria, Comox Valley, Duncan), Hrynew (Royal City CC), Jones (Langley CC), Leung (Royal City, Vancouver, Richmond), Lougheed (Langley CC), Parkinson (Comox Valley CC, Kelowna CC, GEWC, Richmond CC, Royal City CC), Peters (Comox Valley CC), White (Nanaimo CC), and Wilson (Prince George).
Team Beck rounded out the medal winners for the men, taking bronze, while team Arndt (silver) and team Rempel (bronze) captured medals on the women's draw.
Taylor noted several hosting partners were integral in bringing the championships to Cloverdale including: viaSport through their “Hosting B.C.” grant, the City of Surrey through its “Sport Surrey Tourism” grant, along with all of Curl B.C.’s partners.
