European champions bring experience to Asham U21 curling

Team Henderson are looking forward to getting back into action this weekend on home ice in the Asham U21 Series at Greenacres after returning from Switzerland with their first European Junior Curling Tour (EJCT) title.

Katie McMillan, Lisa Davie (who is a newcomer to the programme) and Holly Wilkie-Milne, working with skip Fay Henderson, won the women’s event in St Gallen.

Compatriots Team Craik – who also boast a new combination this year of James Craik, Scott Hyslop, Angus Bryce and Niall Ryder – finished third in the men’s.

Their performances demonstrated the strength in depth being generated within the British curling programme on a weekend that saw Team Mouat claim another senior men’s tour win in Canada, beating the world’s No 1 ranked rink in the final.

Team Paterson and Team Whyte also performed creditably, while both senior GB teams claimed podium finishes at the women’s tour event in Russia.

Henderson’s best previous EJCT performance had been at Oslo in 2019 where her rink finished runners up.

This time, after completing the roundrobin phase with three wins and just a single loss, they avenged that defeat in the final when they produced a dramatic comeback from 7-3 down to beat Switzerland’s Team Rieder 9-7.

The 19-year-old skip reckoned playing against a field packed with Olympic and World champions at the previous weekend’s Euro Super Series on home ice at the National Curling Academy in Stirling had been the ideal preparation.

“Starting out our season as a new line up at the Euro Super Series was a good opportunity to work out team roles and dynamics in a very challenging environment, so it was nice to take what we learnt from that and compete with teams our own age to find out what level we are at,” said Henderson.

“Conditions were tricky to start at St Gallen but we started with a win and our communication as a unit was key.

“We won when it mattered most, so if you are going to drop a game it is better that happens in the group stage rather than the final.

“During the event we managed to figure out our team strengths and use that to our advantage and that really benefited us.

“In the final we were 7-3 down after the fifth end, but we just got stuck in and never let our heads drop.”

“It has been good to compete in high standard line-ups so far this season and we will hopefully carry this form into the weekend against many Scottish teams at Greenacres,” she said.

Fay Henderson skipped Scotland to the St Gallen win.