ONTARIO’S MACDOUGALL LEADS PACK WITH HOT START AT NEW HOLLAND U-20 CHAMPIONSHIP

“It’s a long week.”

That cliché is frequently uttered in the first few days of a national championship, usually as a reminder that there are a lot of games left to come. 

That doesn’t mean that the first few games aren’t equally important in qualifying for the playoff rounds. In fact, getting off to a bad start can make sure that the week can feel extra long, as a few early losses can ruin any chance of advancing. 

For Ontario #1, skipped by Evan MacDougall, a hot start at the New Holland U-20 Canadian Championship has put them at the top of the table with four wins in four games, and four games to go. 

“We’ve been on the right side of things so far,” said MacDougall following Monday’s 10-2 win over Northern Ontario #2 (skipped by Jacob Curtis). “Our mentality has been good, so we’re just hope we can keep it going. 

MacDougall’s squad plays out of the Fergus Curling Club, and included Dylan Stockton, Evan Madore, and Carson Kay. Their 4-0 record at the Sudbury, Ont.-event leads Pool B, where they are closely followed by Quebec #1, led by this year’s U-18 national champion Raphael Tremblay, who currently sit at 3-0. 

Ontario will face Quebec on the Tuesday evening draw. But before that, they’ll have another tough matchup with Team Newfoundland and Labrador, the 2024 U-18 national champions, skipped by Simon Perry. 

“Honestly, we’re just taking it one game at a time,” said MacDougall. “We’re going into every game expecting the other team to play to the best of their ability.” 

Each pool contains nine teams, who will play an eight-game round robin. That will conclude on Friday morning, after which the top three teams will advance from each pool. For an event that began on Saturday afternoon, it does indeed start to feel like a long week. 

“You want to take it all in. You want to enjoy it, you want to stay focused,” said MacDougall. “We want to keep doing everything we’re doing right, and keep learning… try to build on each game.” 

This team is planning to be playing at the end of the week. 

“The goal is to win it,” said MacDougall. “This is our last year of U-20, so we want to go out with a bang. This is the event we’ve been working for all season… so yeah, we’d like to win it!” 

Playoffs begin Friday afternoon with the top seed from each pool advancing to the semifinal. Second and Third place teams will play a cross-over qualifier to reach the semi. 

Scores and schedules can be found at curling.ca/scoreboard while live streaming can be found at Curling Canada’s YouTube channel.