Calgarian’s rink fails to make finals

LIVERPOOL, N.S. • Calgary’s Carter Lautner came up short in his bid to win Canada’s men’s junior curling championship.

The Glencoe Club skip and his rink of third Taylor Ardiel, second

David Aho and lead Kyle Morrison — lost to Rene Comeau’s New Brunswick squad 9-4 in Sunday’s morning’s semifinal.

New Brunswick later lost to Manitoba’s Braden Calvert 7-5 in the final.

For Lautner, who was coached by his father Jim Lautner, his demise came down to a bad shot in the fourth end of the semifinal. The skip was light on his last-rock draw, giving up a steal of three. New Brunswick never relinquished control after that.

“I can’t really put my finger on it. Just came out flat — draw weight was a mystery, obviously, in the third and fourth ends,” said Carter Lautner. “But being my first trip to any kind of national competition, we had a blast. They treated us like royalty here. The people were so friendly here, we had a great time, and I wouldn’t trade any of this for the world.”

Lautner, who was named the first team all-star skip of the tournament (with Aho making the second team at second), had made it to the semifinal after winning big, 7-2 over Northern Ontario’s Tanner Horgan on Friday.

ON THE ROCKS: Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque (and teammates Keely Brown, Taylor McDonald and Claire Tully) won the Canadian women’s junior title on Saturday, beating Kalia Van Osch’s B.C. rink 7-6 in the final.