Plett again and Tao avenged
Alberta’s Myla Plett and Johnson Tao teams won double gold at the U21 Canadian Juniors in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec.
Team Plett (Alberta #1) made history at the championship on Sunday with a 10-4 gold-medal victory over Newfoundland and Labrador’s Mackenzie Mitchell (8-2; St. John’s).
The Airdrie/Sherwood Park squad is the first team to ever capture a Canadian Junior title as well as the Canadian Under-18 Girls Championship in the same season.
Team Plett’s victory capped a perfect Sunday for Alberta teams, as Johnson Tao’s Alberta #2 foursome captured the men’s gold medal.
It’s another chapter in an astonishing championship run for Plett, third Alyssa Nedohin, second Chloe Fediuk, lead Allie Iskiw and coach Blaire Lenton, who were also the Canadian U18 Girls Championship gold medallists in 2022 at Oakville, Ont., as well silver-medal finishers at the Canada Winter Games in Summerside, P.E.I. in February.
The historic feat is something that Plett wasn’t aware of before entering the final at Aréna Jacques Laperrière.
“I didn’t actually know that so that’s really unbelievable,” said Plett. “It’s a big honour for us. We worked really hard for it.”
Hard work paid dividends as Plett quickly jumped out to a 7-1 lead after just five ends of play in the gold-medal final, before cruising to a 10-4 win capping off an undefeated 10-0 campaign.
It would have been easy to lose focus with such a significant lead at the break, but Plett credits her teammates for staying grounded.
“The girls are always trying to keep my focus up,” said Plett. “After a long week, it’s really hard to pay attention to the game. Your brain is a bit frazzled from all the games. The team really helps with keeping each other up and keeping focused.”
The win is a large exclamation point on what has already been a dream season for the Alberta foursome, as they’ll now represent Canada at the 2024 World Junior B Curling Championship at Lohja, Finland in December of this year.
The goal will be to qualify Canada for the World Junior (A Division) Championships, which will be contested in February, also in Lohja.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Plett. “We just played really well all week. We’re super excited to represent Canada. It’s a dream come true for all of us.”
The win marks Alberta’s 11th women’s junior title since the event’s inception in 1971, tying Saskatchewan for the overall lead.
Meanwhile in men’s play, Tao was a man on a mission this week at the Canadian Juniors.
The Alberta #2 skip had some unfinished business having lost last year’s 2022 title to Ontario’s Landan Rooney at Stratford, Ont.
Tao and his Alberta #2 team (third Jaedon Neuert, second Ben Morin, lead Adam Naugler and coach Skip Wilson) defeated Team Rooney 7-1 in the semifinal before beating Northern Ontario’s Dallas Burgess (7-4) of Thunder Bay) by a 7-4 score in the championship final.
“That silver medal was heartbreaking last year,” said Tao, who was born in Beijing, and hails from Richmond, B.C. and attends university in Edmonton. “We came so close. The boys put so much into it this year and put so much into this win. It just means so much for us.”
Winning a Canadian championship is something Tao has dreamed of while growing up and has since pursued incessantly.
“It’s surreal,” said Tao of the victory. “We all grew up watching the Canadian Juniors on TV every year and just to be on this stage for the last couple of years has been amazing.
“But to finally be able to stand on the top of the podium, especially after getting silver last year, it’s just surreal. It’s a dream come true.”
Team Tao will now trade their Alberta colours for the Maple Leaf at the World Junior B shootout in December where, like the women’s team, the mission is to qualify Canada for the main World Junior championship.
Tao’s win marks Alberta’s 17th Canadian Junior men’s title.
Manitoba #1’s Jordon McDonald won the bronze, beating Ontario’s Rooney by a 7-4 count.
Team Jace Freeman (Manitoba #2) and Team Callan MacIssac (Nova Scotia #1) were the men’s quarterfinalists.
The women’s bronze medals went to Team Terrick (Manitoba #1) who defeated Ontario #1’s Team Zemmelink 8-6.
The women’s quarterfinalists were Alberta #2 (Team Booth) and Nova Scotia #1’s Team Blades.
