RANKIN INLET/ CORNER BROOK, N.L
Nunavut was well represented on the national curling stage this past week.

Nunavut skip Kane Komaksiutiksak of Rankin Inlet shows where he wants his team's rock placed during action at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors curling championship in Corner Brook, N.L., this past week. - photo courtesy of Amanda Rumboldt

The junior boys included Kane Komaksiutiksak of the Qavik Curling Club in Rankin Inlet, and consisted of Kane (skip), Tyson Komaksiutiksak (third), Sidney Nichol (second) and Darren Makkigak (lead).

Nunavut's female junior squad was represented by skip Sadie Pinksen, third Christianne West, second Katie Chislett Manning and lead Kaitlin MacDonald from the Iqaluit Curling Club.

The round-robin games of the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors curling championship were played at both the Corner Brook Civic Centre and the Corner Brook Curling Club, in Corner Brook, N.L.

The playoffs were held at the Civic Centre.

Skip Kane was making his second appearance at the national junior event.

He said every little improvement his rink made was a significant achievement.

"The event, itself, is great and it's like something new every time," said Kane.

"We had two or three good games and, in the other ones, we just got drilled.

"I was expecting to get drilled in most of the games, but our team did way better than I expected.

"My guys were a lot better with their draw shots than I thought they'd be, and they only hogged out two shots during the whole tournament where their stone didn't make the hog line in front of the house."

Kane said if his team were to stay together for a few years, he'd concentrate on improving every aspect of their game.

He said while his team does know how to do a lot of things, they don't do them as well as they should.

"It's possible to improve, even with the ice conditions in Rankin, but you have to work hard at it.

"There are days when we can get our ice understandably close to how good ice should play, but just not close enough.

"We had a good time with most of the curlers there, but, to be honest, I liked the Newfoundland curlers the best.

"The Manitoba boys were the best for helping us and offering advice, and both their coach and the Quebec coach were so great to us I started to think they thought more about us than their own teams."

Kane said there were good crowds at the two venues for most of the tournament.

He said he was surprised by how much support the British Columbia team received in Newfoundland.

"I thought it was weird that B.C. were there from the other side of the country, and they had the most fans.

"They had quite a few people from across the country cheering them on.

"For our team, I really didn't like the way our sweepers swept in our first game, but, from the first game to the last, I noticed a big difference.

"They really started communicating well on who goes where when they sweep, while I, as skip, asked for a second opinion on every shot."

Coach Angela Dale said the national was a really great experience and everyone had a great time.

She said they all learned a lot about the sport by attending.

"We had set small goals for the team going to the national," said Dale.

"They accomplished a lot of those goals in improving, and learning more about the technical side of the sport.

"It's really exciting to be there and see the high performance of some of our young athletes in Canada and to know, most likely, some of these young athletes will become Olympians.

"There were teams competing that had very high skill levels."

Nichol viewed playing at the junior national as a tremendous learning experience before leaving Rankin Inlet.

A competitive curler for only six months, he knew the best the team could hope for on the scoreboard was to keep a game or two close.

"It was just an awesome experience," said Nichol.

"It was, pretty much, what I expected, and the scores in most of our games didn't really surprise me too much, but the skill set of some of the teams surprised me a lot.

"You kind of know what to expect, but when you're actually on the ice and see how big of a difference there is between our skill set and many of the teams there, it becomes totally different."

Nichol said most of the curlers were friendly and outgoing toward the Nunavut team.

He said he made a lot of new friends at the event.

"We made some pretty close friends on some of the teams, actually, and I think some will stay in touch.

"The experience has me thinking I'll continue playing the sport in Rankin."

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