As Sudbury U20 skips Brendan Rajala and Mia Toner settled into their respective hacks late in their games Sunday morning in Fort Frances at the NOCA (Northern Ontario Curling Association) U20 Provincial Championships, one would sense that their minds were racing in very different directions.

Blessed with the comfort of knowing that Northern Ontario was sending a pair of men's teams to nationals in Prince Edward Island in March (22nd - 30th), Rajala and his trio of Sault Ste Marie teammates (Justin MacKay - Ben Miskiw - Jake Clouthier) could breathe easy in their final opposite the Riley Winters North Bay Granite Club entry.

Given that peace of mind, Rajala overcame a 6-4 deficit after eight ends of play, deadlocking the game at 6-6 with the hammer in nine and then stealing two for the 8-6 win in the tenth.

A defending NOCA champion but with three different teammates last year (Jackson Dubinsky-Jesse Crozier-Adam Wiersema), Rajala had posted a double round robin record of 4-2, splitting their matchups with Winters (10-4 loss and 5-4 win) but also falling 8-7 to Kamdyn Julien (Horne Granite CC).

Not nearly the same scenario playing out on the adjacent sheet of ice as Mia Toner and her team of Dayna Wahl, Justine Toner and Samantha Digiglio trailed 6-2 after five ends to the Claire Dubinsky Kakabeka Falls entry that returned the entire lineup back from the rink that captured the women's title one year ago - with only the winner advancing to nationals.

Toner (the skip) made a triple takeout and perfect freeze in the second half of the contest, scoring two in the sixth to make things interesting and stealing two in the eighth to pull even before completing the comeback with a steal of one in the tenth end.

With five teams on hand in the women's draw, Team Toner (3-1) trailed only the unbeaten Dubinsky crew (4-0), defeated 9-3 in the head to head preliminary round affair on Saturday evening.

Both the Toner and Rajala foursomes are representing NCUCC (Northern Credit Union Community Centre) this year, with both now set to compete at the New Holland Canadian U20 Curling Championships in Summerside two months from now.