Several young athletes made their dreams of becoming a Canadian champion a reality on Saturday at the RA Centre in Ottawa, as the hard-earned hardware was distributed to the winners at the 2024 Canadian Under-18 Curling Championships. 

Team Newfoundland & Labrador #1, comprising skip Simon Perry, third Nicholas Codner, second/vice-skip Brayden Snow, lead Carter Holden and coach Glenn Goss, hailing from the RE/MAX Centre – St. John’s Curling Club, defeated Team Saskatchewan’s Dylan Derksen (7-2; Martensville) 5-4 to claim the gold medal.  

“It feels real nice,” said Perry about becoming a Canadian champion. “It’s been a long time in the making. It’s our third time here but, you know, it feels really good.” 

Team Newfoundland & Labrador would surrender a single in the seventh before making a double on Perry’s final stone in the eighth end to secure the 5-4 win. 

Perry has yet to make it home for a rest after representing Canada in mixed doubles at the 2024 Youth Olympics at Gangwon, South Korea, where he and his partner Cailey Locke finished with a 3-2 record, just missing the playoffs. 

For Perry, this Canadian Under-18 Gold Medal is the redemption he was seeking. 

“I look at the boys and I said ‘Boys, we’d better come home with a medal from this because I need it,’” Perry said. 

The win marks Newfoundland & Labrador’s first medal at the Canadiaun Under-18 Championships in either male or female play since the event’s inception in 2017.  

In female play, Manitoba won the national under-18 title.