NOVA SCOTIA SWEEPS U-18 

NOVA SCOTIA SKIPS BLADES AND ATHERTON WIN DOUBLE GOLD AT UNDER-18 NATIONALS 

Saskatchewan is known for loving anything green. Their flag, their football team, their uniforms at the Scotties… it’s always green. 

After a week of competition at the Canadian Under-18 Championships in Saskatoon, however, the winners would kindly ask their hosts at the Nutana Curling Club to paint their noses blue. 

In both sides of the draw, teams from Nova Scotia claimed the gold medal with Cassidy Blades’s NS1 claiming the female trophy, and Zach Atherton’s NS1 winning the male championship. 

“We’re just so happy,” said Blades, following a last-rock win over Alberta #2’s Abby Desormeau. “We worked hard for it, so having such a good week and finishing like that was amazing.” 

Blades, Stephanie Atherton, Anna MacNutt, Lily Mitchell, and coach Kevin Ouellette took an early four-point lead into the mid-game break, but prompty surrendered four points in the fifth end resulting in a tie.  

Several highlight reel shots in the sixth set up a score of three in the sixth end for the team from the Halifax Curling Club. A force in seven and a well-played eighth end left Blades with a “make it go away” takeout for the national championship.  

“I was a little nervous, but I knew I had to hit it anywhere on the outside,” said Blades of her last shot. “And I knew that my sweepers could hold it there if they needed to.” 

Atherton, along with teammates Alan Fawcett, Tyler MacMullen, Jed Freeman, and coach Joel Krats dispatched Ontario #1’s Tyler MacTavish in a fairly one-sided final. 

“I’m really proud of my team,” said Atherton. “We played well all week, and I think we really earned this.” 

The Nova Scotia boys opened the final with a score of three and a steal of two, and didn’t allow Ontario to get much momentum after that. 

“I expected a great fight, but we pulled of a great game,” said Atherton. “We played really well in our semifinal against Alberta and wanted to keep that going. They played well, but we were just better today.” 

Both teams ran through the tournament with a perfect 9-0 record, with victories in the main event finals as their exclamation points. 

Not only was it a Nova Scotia sweep, it was also a chance for the Atherton family to bring home two national titles – about 20 minutes apart. While the boys finished early and Zach could start celebrating, the girls game went down to the last rock so his sister Stephanie still had some work to do.  

“I saw the scoreboard once, but I was trying to stay locked in,” said Zach, about keeping an eye on his sister’s game. “I owed that to my team, because we all put in the work. I didn’t want to let them down by being distracted.” 

Stephanie, however, was a bit more distracted. 

“I’m not going to lie, I was trying to stay focused on our game,” she said. “But my attention strayed a little bit and I was definitely looking over. We’re really close.” 

Their father, Andrew Atherton, has coached Nova Scotia to two national championships at the U-20 level, but never with his children on the team. Watching his kids win two championships on the same day – while not seated at the coach’s bench – was perhaps more meaningul. 

“He’s really enjoyed being a dad this week,” said Stephanie. “I know he’s really, really proud of us.” 

In the bronze medal matchups, Ontario’s Katrina Frlan beat British Columbia’s Ava Arndt in an extra end. In the male final, Quebec’s Zachary Janidlo defeated Alberta’s Peter Hlushak to claim the third place finish.