JR WOMEN PLAYOFF BOUND AT WORLDS

CANADA’S U21 WOMEN QUALIFY FOR PLAYOFFS AT WORLDS IN FINLAND 

At the start of the season, Canadian U21 champion Myla Plett didn’t know if she’d even be playing in the World Junior Championships in Lohja, Finland. After a trip through the B-Group championship, and a grind through the round robin, now it’s official that her Edmonton-based team will be playing for medals on the biggest stage. 

With an 8-6 win over Germany’s Sara Messenzehl, Canada (with vice Alyssa Nedohin, second Chloe Fediuk, and lead Allie Iskiw) moved to 5-3, which was good enough to qualify for the top four spots in the ten-team field. With one game to go in the round robin, only Sweden could catch them, but they lack the head-to-head victory to pass them in the standings. 

“I’m so pumped… I didn’t even know until now,” said Nedohin after being informed of the clinched playoff berth post-game by World Curling media staff. “I’m so excited to celebrate with the team.” 

With the guaranteed playoff spot, the Canadian women will also avoid relegation to next year’s B-Group, which Plett and last year’s team skipped by Emily Deschenes also had to endure.  

“We’ve got some things we want to keep improving on,” said Nedohin. “But we’re just really excited to keep playing and sticking to our own game.” 

The Canadian women lost their first game of the day to South Korea, 8-3. They’ll face undefeated Switzerland in the last game of the round robin. 

Unfortunately for the men, their Wednesday didn’t inspire much celebration. Their afternoon matchup with the United States came down to the last rock in an extra end, but American skip Wesley Wendling was able to hit the sliver he could see of the Canadian shot stone to seal the win. 

Canada (skip Johnston Tao, third Jaedon Neuert, second Zach Davies, lead Adam Naugler) still have two games left vs. Germany and Denmark. Depending on results, there will likely be a log-jam at 5-4 which will determine the final playoff teams. 

Two wins will put them in playoff contention, while a loss or two could be devastating. In some cases, the Last Shot Draw may be needed to break or seed teams with tied records. Canada sits fourth in LSD at the moment. 

The top four teams will make playoffs, while the top six will be guaranteed spots at next year’s A-Group world championship. The bottom four teams will be relegated to the B-Group, and will have to requalify for the main event in December. 

Live scores can be found at https://livescores.worldcurling.org/wjcc/default.    

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