It’s often said the real reward comes through the journey, not the prize at the end.
Burnaby’s Daniel Wenzek can attest to that.
The 21-year-old Douglas College student will cap his junior curling career next week at the provincial men’s championships in Nelson, where he will skip Team Tardi of the Royal City and Langley curling clubs.
Among the awards this year were a provincial junior title and last week’s bronze medal from the Canadian junior men’s championships, held in Stratford, Ont.
“It’s been great. This is a great bunch of guys to play with and in my first year (with them) I couldn’t ask for more,” he said. “The adjustment mostly has been getting use to their system, getting use to the routine, but I think we did okay.”
That’s an understatement.
Playing third with 17-year-old skip Tyler Tardi, second Jordan Tardi and lead Nick Meister, Wenzek enjoyed his second run to a national junior tournament -- having achieved the same, with silver the end result, for New Brunswick in 2014.
That year he was a first-year student at the University of New Brunswick.
This time out, as it was then, Manitoba got the upperhand, bumping the B.C. rink 8-3 in the semifinal.
In the final round-robin game, the two teams clashed in what became a 5-4 extra ends win for Matt Dunstone’s prairie team.
“We had taken them to extra ends (in the round robin) and got an early jump (in the semifinal) by stealing a point in the first end,” recalled Wenzek. “That was a boost of confidence but we couldn’t keep it going.”
Manitoba tied it in the second, B.C. again replied with a point and 2-1 advantage after three ends, but Dustone corralled the momentum with two in the fourth and another two over the next two ends.
“With (Dunstone’s) terrific hitting, anytime you left them a double to hit, they hit it,” remarked coach Paul Tardi.
Manitoba finished the semifinal by shooting an incredible 91 per cent, while the Tardi rink posted a steady 77 per cent.
“This was probably the strongest teams they had (at the junior men’s championships),” Wenzek noted. “I knew what the environment and conditions were like and we talked about how to handle our emotions… This was just a great season, we had a good team and everyone got along.”
The B.C. rink finished the round robin with a 7-3 record.
The three other members of the team all hail south of the Fraser River and have a few more years of junior eligibility. As the eldest player, Wenzek brought a different level of experience and maturity to the team, said Paul Tardi.
“We were very fortunate to pick up Daniel,” said the coach. “He brings a lot of maturity and a calm, settled manner that helped when it came to calling the big shots.”
A Royal City Curling Club member, Wenzek will now slide into the roll as skip for next week’s championships, as Tyler Tardi heads to Lillehammer, Norway to compete for Canada in mixed curling at the Youth Olympics.
On the prize front, Wenzek joined Team B.C. girls’ Dezaray Hawes in picking up a FairPlay award for their efforts at the national tournament.
The B.C. champion Sarah Daniels rink went on to capture silver at the Canadian junior women’s curling championships, also held in Stratford.
Daniels’ rink, rooted at the Royal City Curling Club, also features third Marika Van Osch, Hawes at second, lead Megan Daniels and coach Katie Witt.
