Langley Township — It was almost exactly 12 months ago that Jacques Gauthier made one of the toughest decisions of his life.
Fresh off losing to his cousin, B.C.’s Tyler Tardi, in the men’s gold-medal game of the 2019 New Holland Canadian Junior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships, Gauthier was asked if he would serve as the alternate for Team Tardi at the 2019 World Juniors — a role he had in 2018, resulting in a gold medal.
But Gauthier told his cousin “thanks, but no” — if he was going to win another world junior championship, he wanted to do it as a player, not an alternate.
Gauthier will get that chance; backed up by vice-skip Jordan Peters, second Brayden Payette, lead Zack Bilawka and coach John Lund, Gauthier skipped the Manitoba #2 team from Winnipeg to an 8-6 win over Newfoundland/Labrador’s Daniel Bruce in the men’s gold medal game at the 2019 New Holland Canadian Junior Curling Championships Sunday at the George Preston Recreation Centre.
It was an 11th Canadian junior men’s gold medal for Manitoba, behind only Alberta with 16 and Saskatchewan with 14, and the province’s first since Matt Dunstone prevailed in 2016.
The last time one Member Association swept both the men’s and women’s titles was in 2012 when Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher and Jocelyn Peterman claimed gold.
For event information, visit www.curling.ca/2020juniors.
The 2021 New Holland Canadian Juniors will be played in Fort McMurray, Alta.
