CANADA CRUISES TO JR. B PODIUM 

U21 MEN QUALIFY FOR ‘A’ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP & WILL PLAY FOR GOLD TUESDAY 

In the last game of the World Junior-B round robin on Sunday, Canada’s entry skipped by Johnson Tao, needed a win over Poland and a good Last Shot Draw score to advance to the playoff round. Tao, along with third Jaedon Neuert, Zach Davies, and Adam Naugler delivered the victory and squeaked into the quarterfinals by the thinnest of margins. 

Less than 24 hours later, they’d knocked off a highly seeded Swedish team in the quarters, earning a spot in the semifinal and more importantly, a berth in the ‘A’ World Championship in February.  

“It feels great to have secured a berth for Canada at the World As,” said Tao. “Sweden is one of the strongest teams here. Being able to come out on top against them when it mattered will be a big confidence booster for us going into the medal games.” 

With the big hurdle cleared, Canada went on to dispatch New Zealand in the semifinal and will now have a chance to play against the United States for gold.  

In their first game on Monday morning, Canada faced undefeated Sweden skipped by Axel Landelius. After seven ends of back-and-forth scoring, the Canadians held the ever-critical hammer, tied playing the last end. 

With his last shot, Sweden’s Landelius buried a draw on the back of the button, but left Tao just enough space to follow it down. Tao executed perfectly, tapping the Swedish stone a few inches to secure a score of two and the victory. 

“That was a nail-biter for sure,” said Tao. 

The excitement – or perhaps relief – was evident in the Canadian’s following the post-game handshakes. They had, in fact, earned the right to return to Lohja, Finland early next year to compete in the top tier of the world championships. Canada was relegated to the ‘B’ group after last year’s entry finished eighth at the ‘A’ group championship. 

With the main goal achieved, and the pressure off, Canada faced New Zealand (skipped by William Becker) in the semifinal. After a blank in the first, Canada forced the Kiwis to one in the second, then went on to take two and steal two in the third and fourth ends. Another force of one, and a score of three for the Canadians gave them some breathing room, as they cruised to a 7-4 victory.  

“We’re feeling great, playing great,” said Tao. “We’re getting sharper each game. We’re thrilled to have a guaranteed medal for Canada, and we’re excited to give it everything in the gold-medal game.” 

The Canadians, supported by coach Skip Wilson, assistant coach Ben Morin, and team leader Rob Krepps, will face the USA’s Wesley Wendling in the gold-medal game. Denmark will face New Zealand for the bronze medal. All four teams have qualified for the ‘A’ championship.  

Medal games are scheduled for 10:00 am local time on Tuesday, which is 3:00am Eastern. 

Live scoring can be found here:  
https://livescores.worldcurling.org/wjbcc/aspnet/current?EventID=1  

Some games are livestreamed here: https://www.youtube.com/@CurlingFinland