Three local teams will be trying to sweep away the competition at the Tim Hortons B.C. juvenile curling championships, which get underway today at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club.
In the eight-team boys draw, the Dustin Withey rink will represent Prince George and Zone 8. Team Withey features Brendan Carswell at third, Coleton Vriesendorp at second and James Brown in the lead position. All four players will be making their debut at the provincial level.
In their first game, at 10 a.m., Withey and company will face a Lower Mainland team skipped by Jay Ueda, who will be throwing stones in the juvenile provincials for the third time. The players on the Ueda rink hail from Vancouver and North Vancouver.
At 3 p.m., Withey and his mates will be back on the ice for a game against the Zane Bartlett foursome of Grand Forks.
Other teams in the boys provincials are led by Kyle Habkirk (Coquitlam), Ryan Cassidy (Victoria), Mathew Nielsen (100 Mile House), Brayden Carpenter (New Westminster) and Brendan Cliff (Vernon).
In the eight-team girls draw, a pair of P.G. rinks -- skipped by Diamond Wilson and Alyssa Connell -- will be pushing out of the hack. Wilson and her team of Carly Connor (third), Jessie Withey (second), Erin Ross (lead) and Carsyn Hamilton (alternate) will start the B.C. bonspiel with a 10 a.m. game against Marika Van Osch's Victoria rink. At 3 p.m., Team Wilson will play the Sydney Hofer foursome of Vernon.
As for the Connell crew, they will meet a Vancouver Island team skipped by Emily Smith in their 10 a.m. opener. In the afternoon, Connell and her mates -- third Jordan Henson, second Jennilee Slaney and lead Julianne Slaney -- will step onto the ice against Cierra Fisher and her Kamloops-based rink.
The girls provincials also feature teams skipped by Sarah Daniels of Delta and Dezaray Hawes of Chilliwack.
In both tournaments, teams have been divided into two pools. The last preliminary games will start at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, and tiebreakers (if necessary) will be played at noon and 3:30 p.m. Semifinal contests will be held Saturday night (7 p.m.) and the championship finals will start at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Spectators are welcome to attend all games.
The juvenile division is for players in the 11 to 16 age range.
