Dawson Creek’s Sanjay Bowry and his B.C. lower-mainland rinkmates will be packing their bags shortly for the 2013 M&M Meat Shops Junior Curling Championships in Fort McMurray, Alta. Feb. 2-10.
Bowry is the second of Tyler Klymchuk’s (Langley, B.C.) rink that won the Tim Hortons B.C. Junior Men’s Provincials two weekends ago in Coquitlam, B.C.
The Klymchuk crew sailed past their B.C. counterparts with ease, finishing the ‘spiel with a perfect 7-0 record and downing Langley’s Tyler Tardi 9-4 in the finals to punch their ticket to nationals.
“It’s always a surprise to pull off a win at provincials,” said Bowry who has been in this position before having won provincial and international championships as a Dawson Creek juvenile curler.
“We were able to play well all week and come out with the win,” he added about his new team’s national berth.
Bowry, 19, started curling with Dawson Creek rinks in high school and was part of several successful teams that went on to represent Alberta on a national and international stage. He is a two-time Alberta juvenile curling champion and seconded Daylan Vavrek’s rink that won gold at the 2011 Juvenile International Championships alongside fellow Dawson Creek curlers Tristan Steinke and Jason Ginter. Bowry also won a B.C. high school provincial championship with Steinke, Ginter and Brad Skytte.
The Klymchuk rink of third Corey Chester and lead Rhys Gamache, along with Bowry, is a split team of Langley and Victoria curling club members.
Bowry, a second-year political science major at the University of Victoria, and Chester also of Victoria, have been curling with Klymchuk and Gamache (Tsawwassen, B.C.) for less than a year, but their early chemistry have made them a team to be reckoned within the junior ranks.
The team was crowned champions of the West Coast Junior Curling Classic in October at their first junior event.
“We went to a ‘spiel in April, we clicked, and decided to come together as a team,” explains Bowry, who put curling on a brief hold during his first year at college before getting back in the game this season.
“It’s challenging with curling but I like it so far,” he said about juggling his education with curling commitments, which required him to ferry to the mainland every Wednesday for league play with the team.
“It’s been a grind for sure,” proclaims Bowry, explaining that he and Chester travelled every week during the season to compete in the Royal City Premium League with Gamache and Klymchuk to curl against some of the top men’s rinks in the province.
Bowry expects the Canadian finals to be a tough challenge for the B.C. rink that will look to feed off its success at the provincial championships.
“We have a pretty tough pool with the likes of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario. Thomas Scoffin’s rink (Team Alberta) with Dylan Gousseau and Bryce and Landon Bucholz they won World Juniors last year – the front end – and they are probably favourites going in,” said Bowry.
“We’re just approaching it as we are going to work hard these next three weeks and focus on that first game against Nunavut and just try to keep that momentum on that we had at provincials.”
Round-robin play at the Canadian Juniors begins on Saturday, Feb. 2. The top four teams from Pool A and B will advance to a second round robin to determine the semifinalists. The men’s final is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 9.
