By Sean McIntosh [1]
BELLEVILLE – A local team has made it to the final eight of the national junior curling championships, but lost its first two games in that round.
Ontario’s Team Calwell [2] plays again at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at the M&M Junior Curling Championships [3] in Corner Brook, N.L., and once more on Friday. The team currently sits last place in the championship pool.
Team Calwell, based out of the Quinte Curling Club [4] in Belleville, is made up of 19-year-old skip Mac Calwell, his twin brother, Morgan Calwell (second), Kurt Armstrong (vice) and Matt Pretty (lead). The Calwells are both students at Loyalist College.
After advancing to the championship pool Wednesday, Team Calwell lost games against Northern Ontario and Alberta.
Northern Ontario’s team, skipped by Tanner Horgan, toppled Team Calwell 10-4 on Wednesday evening, moving Horgan’s record to three wins and five losses.
On Thursday morning Team Calwell was defeated again, this time by Alberta’s Karsten Sturmay, 8-2. That dropped Calwell’s record to two and six, while Sturmay’s moved up to seven and one.
Team Calwell will look to turn its luck around Thursday afternoon when it takes on New Brunswick’s Rene Comeau.