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Junior curlers take to Smithers ice

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Junior curlers took to the ice in Smithers last week.

The Smithers Curling Club hosted the Smithers Junior Bonspiel last weekend, with four hometown teams and eight from Kitimat taking part. Organizer Laurence Turney said previous Junior bonspiels have usually been held in Kitimat.

“This is the first time we’ve held it here,” he said. “This is great. Everybody’s happy, everybody’s smiling, everybody’s having a lot of fun.”

There were six teams each in the Grade 4 to 7 and High School divisions, with the former playing five hour-long games, and the older crews playing three hour and a half games of six ends. Some young curlers were taking part in their first competition.

“It’s really cool for them to play their first games against another team,” said Turney.

After a full day of play, the Grade 4 to 7 Division ended with a tie for first between Smithers’ team Turney, consisting of skip Sean Turney, third Evan Doyle, second Hugh Slater and lead Matthew Steventon, and Kitimat’s Team Whitmell, made up of skip Elijah Whitmell, third Hannah Durrant, second Emma Baker and lead Gabriel Diaz. Second place was a tie between Team Powers from Smithers and Team Canil from Kitimat.

In the high school division, Team Jones from Smithers, including skip Riley Jones, third Malcolm Turney, second Breanne Haskins and lead Adam Hartnett took first place. In second was team C. Baruta from Kitimat, with the remaining teams tied in the point standings for third place.