Ryan team rolls at Canadian juniors curling championship

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This article was published 25/01/2017 (3477 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

J.T. Ryan’s Winnipeg curling team is doing all it can to keep the remarkable streak alive.

The Ryan team of third Jacques Gauthier, second Graham McFarlane and lead Brendan Bilawka was red-hot at the Canadian junior curling championships in Victoria until a 7-5 loss to Northern Ontario’s Tanner Horgan in a championship-round match Wednesday night.

The team from the Assiniboine Memorial club was the only undefeated team in the field until then, finishing with a record of 6-0 in round-robin play in its seven-team pool to wrap up first place and move into the championship round that began Wednesday evening.

Manitoba is home to the four previous national junior men’s championship teams. Matt Dunstone won in 2013 and 2016, while Braden Calvert captured back-to-back Canadian crowns in 2014 and 2015.

The Ryan foursome joins Prince Edward Island’s Tyler Smith (4-2), Alberta’s Colton Goller (4-2) and New Brunswick’s Liam Marin (3-3) from Pool A, while B.C.’s Tyler Tardi (4-1), Nova Scotia’s Matthew Manuel (3-2); Ontario’s Matthew Hall (3-2) and Northern Ontario’s Tanner Horgan (3-2) survived from Pool B.

Each team in the championship round now plays the teams they have yet to face, so Ryan will battle B.C., Nova Scotia and Ontario in the draws to come.

The three teams with the best combined records advance to the weekend playoffs.

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In junior women’s play, the Laura Burtnyk team from the Assiniboine Memorial club did not fare as well this week at the nationals.

Burtnyk, with Hailey Ryan (J.T.’s older sister) at third, Sara Oliver at second and Rebecca Cormier at lead, finished with a record of 2-4 and did not qualify for the championship round.

Teams advancing include Ontario’s Hailey Armstrong (6-0), Alberta’s Kristen Streifel (5-1), Saskatchewan’s Kaitlyn Jones (4-2), B.C.’s Corryn Brown (4-2), Quebec’s Camille Boisvert (4-2), P.E.I.’s Lauren Lenentine (3-3), Nova Scotia’s Kristin Clarke (3-3) and Northern Ontario’s Krysta Burns (3-3).

The winning teams Sunday will represent Canada at the 2017 world junior championships, Feb. 16-26 in Gangneung, South Korea.

— Jason Bell