Team Canada joins Scotland, Norway, and Switzerland in the semifinals of the 2019 World Junior Curling Championships unfolding in Nova Scotia tonight.

A 9-5 win over on Thursday afternoon put skip Tyler Tardi (who plays out of Langley Curling Centre, along with fellow teammates Sterling Middleton, Matthew Hall, Alex Horvath, and Rylan Kleiter) in to the semifinals.

鈥淓very team that鈥檚 going to to make the playoffs is obviously deserving of it, so I think either way we鈥檙e happy to be there and no matter who we play, we鈥檙e just going to give it our all,鈥� Tardi said after Thursday鈥檚 game in Liverpool.

Then a 21-1 round-robin victory over New Zealand this morning (Friday) secured Team Canada second place in the playoffs, and will see them marched up against Norway in the semifinals.

So, the team will be back on the ice again tonight, at 7:30 p.m. AST. The game against Norway will be be live streamed on World Curling TV. .

鈥淲e鈥檙e feeling good right now,鈥� Tardi said, after admitting to what he called a rocky start to the week and championships. 鈥淲e鈥檙e really happy, and feeling confident鈥� feeling good going into the playoffs.鈥�

He expressed gratitude to the crowd, family, friends, and even complete strangers cheering them on 鈥� whether they made their shots or not.

鈥漈hank you everyone for your words of support and encouragement! We appreciate it very much,鈥� he said.

While hoping to make it into the gold-medal round and hoping they can defend their world title, Tardi said that has yet to be determined. He insisted his team will simply take it 鈥渙ne step at a time,鈥� and see what comes.

If they do make it through to the gold-medal round, the local skip speculated they鈥檇 once against be going up against Scotland. That is the team they beat last year for the title of world champ.