In their first competition this season as a full team, Whitehorse’s Team Young produced three straight wins en route to a fifth place finish at the 2012 Leduc Lions Junior Bonspiel, in Leduc, Alta.
“It was a good experience for the whole team,” said skip Mitchell Young. “We had a pretty good round-robin with the other three teams in our pool.
“We definitely improved over the weekend. Had a close game with just a couple shots making the difference.
“The next competition we’ll be ready.”
Team Young, which includes third Will Mahoney, second Joe Wallingham and lead Spencer Wallace, was the only Yukon team in the bonspiel.
The Yukoners won their first three matches, including a 6-4 win over Alberta’s fifth-ranked junior team of Kyler Klelbrink.
Team Young, currently ranked 15th for junior males in Alberta, then lost 4-2 to Lamont, Alberta’s Theroux of Dylan Theroux.
“We’re part of the Alberta Junior Curling Tour, so we got a certain amount of points for making it to the quarterfinal,” said Young. “But since we’ve just played in one (junior bonspiel) we only have points from one bonspiel, where other teams have been playing every weekend. So we’re at a disadvantage in ranking.”
In their first bonspiel of the season Team Young also won bronze at competing at the Men’s World Curling Tour Flatiron Challenge in Lacombe, Alberta.
The rink, which had coach Wade Scoffin substituting for an absent Wallace, went 2-2 in their pool.
In the quarterfinal, Team Young went 7-3 over former Brier champ Kevin Park. They then lost in the semifinal 6-2 to the current junior world champion, Parker Konschuh.
Young is a former teammate of Whitehorse’s Thomas Scoffin, who won Canada a bronze at the Youth Olympic Games in January.
Together the two made six appearances at the Canadian Junior Curling Championships. Last year Thomas and Young were on the first junior rink, male or female, to return from the nationals with a winning record, going 7-5 for sixth place.
Team Young will attempt to win Yukon’s spot at the junior nationals in late December, which would send Young to his seventh run at the championships.
The team also hopes to be in town for the Whitehorse Curling Club’s Cash Spiel at the end of the month.
Young is currently in his first year at SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary, where he’s vice-president of SAIT’s curling team. He is studying electrical engineering.
“The plan is to transfer into the electrical engineering at University of Victoria after my two-year diploma here,” said Young.
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com