2019 Scottish Curling Junior Championships Review
Women’s Final
Team Bryce – Amy Bryce, Layla Al-Saffar, Molly Keen, Jane Barr
Vs
Team Davie – Lisa Davie, Kirsty Barr, Anna Skuse, Emma Barr
The Scottish Junior Women’s final featured Team Davie and Team Bryce. Davie finished top of the leader-board on Saturday but lost to Team Bryce in the Page Playoff 1v2 before rebounding to overcome Team Farmer in the semi-final. When Davie and Bryce met in the round-robin on Wednesday, Team Davie won 10-7, so the head to head record this week is one each setting up an exciting finale.
Bryce led from the front in the final, starting with last stone advantage and scoring 2 in the first end. Davie replied with a 2 of her own in the second. Davie turned up the pressure and with nine stones in front of the house, Davie was lying three and Bryce didn’t manage to navigate a stone far enough and lost a steal of 3. Again, with a many stones in play, Bryce failed to dislodge Davie’s stone from the button and gave up another steal of 1. The fifth end saw Bryce score a 1 to reduce the deficit to 6-3 at the break.
Team Davie were light with their last two stones and failed to get closer than Bryce’s stone that was biting the 2ft, so gave up a steal of 1in the 6th. Then with an open hit Davie hit out a Bryce stone for 3 in the seventh. Bryce were unable to create any momentum in the eight end and was light with the last stone, giving up a steal of 2 leading to handshakes and a final score 11-4.
We caught up with Skip Lisa Davie after the medal ceremony and she gave us a great account of the final:
‘’The game was a bit tricky actually, the first 2 ends I felt we were just finding our feet and trying to work out the opposition. After we stole a 3 after the 2nd end I knew we were in control, and we just had to keep calm until the 10th end if that’s what it came down to!
Our opposition played some really good shots. They played some excellent taps and draws. They stole an end from us, Amy had a fantastic draw to lie back button at one point and I couldn’t do anything about it – so it wasn’t an easy game…
We’ve only got 2 weeks until Canada, so we possibly won’t over train, rather, we’ll make sure everyone’s settled and happy before we travel. It’s an unreal opportunity to go and represent your country. Our whole team enjoyed today so much, and I can tell you when we go out to Canada we’ll enjoy that even more…
The livestreaming was great, it meant all my relatives could watch and get updates – it felt like a bit more pressure to begin with, but we soon forgot the cameras were there!’’
Team Davie will now head to the World Junior Championships in Liverpool, Canada as Scotland’s representatives next month. We would like to wish Lisa Davie, Kirsty Barr, Anna Skuse, Emma Barr and Coach Andrew Barr the best of luck.
Men’s Final
Team Whyte – Ross Whyte, Duncan McFadzean, James Craik, Euan Kyle
Vs
Team Kinnear – Callum Kinnear, Luke Carson, Ryan McCormack, Matthew McKenzie
The Scottish Junior Men’s final featured the experienced teams Team Whyte and Team Kinnear. Team Whyte dominated the competition having qualified for the final undefeated with 7/7 wins in the round robin before seeing off Team Gallacher in the 1v2 playoff to set up their second final in as many years.
Team Kinnear knew they had it all to do but faced an uphill battle with Whyte able to secure a score of 3 in the first end. Ross Whyte and his team continued to dominate the first half as early mistakes by Kinnear were capitalised upon by Whyte who were able to score another 3 in the third and 2 in the 5th with a series of great run backs.
Team Whyte seemed to take their feet of the gas when they returned to the ice after the break, this allowed Callum Kinnear and his men an opening back into the game. Team Kinnear were applauded for hanging in when other teams might have thrown in the towel and were rewarded with a score of 1 in the seventh, eighth and ninth ends.
With Whyte leading 9-6 with hammer in the final end Team Kinnear knew they had to go for it and were able to lie 3, forcing Ross to play right up to their final stone. However, an easy hit with his last stone meant that Ross ended Team Kinnear’s hopes and secured the gold medal for Team Whyte once again.
After the final Skip Ross Whyte was happy share his pride at his team’s performance:
‘’We are so happy! We had a great week, and we just stuck to it, and continued it throughout the final, we are so chuffed right now!
In terms of the game, we had a really quick start; we had many, many good shots which set us up. Callum and his team were pretty aggressive which we managed to capitalise on a wee bit. That helped our game, he let us go for it, and there were a lot of good run backs made by our team which were absolutely crucial at times.
Over the next 2 weeks, we will focus us, just practising what we have been doing as it’s working!’’
Team Whyte will now head to the World Championships in Liverpool, Canada as Scotland’s representatives next month. We would like to wish Ross Whyte, Duncan McFadzean, James Craik, Euan Kyle and Coach Greg Drummond the best of luck.
Photography Copyright: Brian Battensby
