An Ottawa Curling Club rink is off to the final match of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian junior championship in Calgary tonight.
The winner will represent Canada at the World Junior Curling Championships in Perth, Scotland from March 5 to 13.
Team Ontario, skipped by the Ottawa Curling Club’s Mat Camm, defeated the Colin Thomas-led rink from Newfoundland and Labrador by a 6-4 score in the tournament semifinal this afternoon.
The rink of Camm, Scott Howard, Andrew Hamilton and Scott Mathers say they have already met their expectations for the tournament.
“Our goal was to qualify for playoffs, but we’ve got another game to get through and hopefully we come out on top,” he said.
The victory over Newfoundland and Labrador did not come easy, however.
After giving up a point in the first end, Camm responded with three on Thomas.
But the East Coast rink scrapped their way back into contention, scoring single points in each of the next two ends to knot the score at three.
Then Team Ontario took over. With last rock in the fifth end, Camm’s rink scored two points and was able to hold off Thomas for the win.
Curlers back in Ottawa are excited to see the Ontario team in the final.
Andrew Denny has curled with Camm before. He says he expects him to win because of the great teamwork displayed.
“They blend together extremely well and they just know how to win games,” he says.
Camm will play Braeden Moskowy’s Saskatchewan rink in the final later tonight.
Saskatchewan was the top team in round robin play and Denny says will be a challenge for Camm.
“They’ll be a tough one to beat. You can never discount a team that goes 12-0 in the round robin,” he says.
Moskowy narrowly defeated Camm earlier in the tournament, 9-7.
The championship final can be seen on TSN at 7:30 pm.