Canadian men playoff-bound at World Juniors

The next game for the Canadian men will be a big one. 

After a week of round-robin play, the team skipped by Calan MacIsaac (Truro, N.S.) will advance to the semifinal by virtue of their 7-2 record at the World Junior Curling Championships in Taarnby, Denmark. 

Should they win the semifinal, they’d guarantee a gold or silver medal. Lose, and there would be more work to do for bronze. 

The Canadians — skip MacIsaac, third Nathan Gray, second Owain Fisher and lead/vice-skip Christopher McCurdy — were in first place for most of the week, but dropped to third after losing their last game in the pool stage to Team Caden Hebert of the United States (8-1) 7-5.

They’ll face that same U.S. team in the semifinal on Monday at 1 p.m. (all times Eastern).

“It feels great to make the playoffs,” said McCurdy. “Now we just have to refocus on our next game and keep the momentum rolling in to playoffs.” 

“We are loving how good the team has been playing throughout the week,” said alternate Nick Mosher, who joins coach Craig Burgess and team leader Daryell Nowlan, as Canada’s support team this week. “We are very excited to be headed to the playoffs, and just have to keep focused for our next game.” 

Edmonton’s Myla Plett skipped the women’s team to a 5-4 record, which concluded with a “win and you’re in” game vs. Switzerland’s Team Elodie Jerger. Unfortunately for the Canadians, they lost to the Swiss 8-3, and finished in a four-way tie for the last playoff spot. The tie-breaker scenarios didn’t favour the Canadians, and they’ll miss the playoffs. 

Plett, third/vice-skip Alyssa Nedohin, second Chloe Fediuk, and lead Allie Iskiw kept the game with Switzerland close early on but fell victim to three late steals, which put the game out of reach. 

“We’ve been through a lot as a team over the last several years,” said team leader Beth Iskiw. “This memory will be added to the bank of incredible things we’ve all gone through together. Our group has each other’s backs no matter what comes our way.” 

The women are also supported by coach Dave Nedohin, assistant coach Blair Lenton, and alternate Abby Whitbread. 

For scores and schedules, visit the World Curling site at: https://livescores.worldcurling.org/wjcc/aspnet/livescores?EventID=0 

Games can be streamed via paid subscription on the Curling Channel here: https://curlingchannel.tv/subscribe