A quick drop-in at the Northern Credit Union Community Centre (NCUCC - formerly Curl Sudbury) late Thursday night reveals the second of two full draws for an evening of scramble curling and such.
A quick scan of the Curling Zone website reveals no less than six different teams with some sort of Sudbury connection on hand in Barrie this Thanksgiving weekend, part of the field for the Stu Sells Tankard.
The site also confirms the social media postings from earlier in the week, congratulating skip Rachel Homan, and Sudbury native and team vice Tracy Fleury and their rink on capturing the Points Bet Invitational and the $50,000 cheque that accompanied their victory in Oakville.
The 2023-2024 curling season sure went from zero to sixty in a hurry.
For some, like the revamped Krysta Burns rink of Sudbury, this weekend marks the beginning of the competitive season - though Burns and long-time local teammate Sara Guy were thankful for the chance to get in some practice time and a Wednesday night league game at NCUCC before departing for Barrie the next day.
“The four of us, as a team, had not played together until today,” said Burns following a 7-2 win over the Swiss rink skipped by Corrie Huerlimann. “I think that we all jived really well. It’s one of the hardest things about putting four people together.”
While Burns enjoys a great deal of familiarity with both Guy and lead and Sault Ste Marie native Laura Masters, this is her first season being on the back-end of a rink that also features third Jestyn Murphy.
“Luckily this summer, I was able to come down and Jestyn and I got a chance to see how each other throws,” said Burns. “As a skip, you would like to know how your players release a rock. But she has a really clean throw so it’s really easy to read - there’s no need to change things up too much.”
A successful first outing did nothing to dampen their spirits, though Burns acknowledged that in the overall scheme of a long season, tapping into the Stu Sells Tankard as an educational tool for the team is likely right at the top of the priority list.
“From this weekend, it’s about learning how to play with each other, learning how to play as a unit,” said Burns. “There’s a lot more discussion than we normally might have. It’s just airing everything out and putting everything on the table so that we can learn, going forward.”
The now 27 year-old who represented the NOCA at Canadian Juniors on multiple occasions and competed at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in 2021 has seen her share of jam-packed winter curling schedules and admits that her current status, balancing far more between work and play, has its advantages.
“I find it easy to jump right back in,” said Burns. “Honestly, the main difference is that it’s actually a lot more exciting and fun now because we’re not doing it every weekend. Because it’s a little more infrequent, when we do actually get to see each other, it’s a lot more exciting.”
******************************************************************************These are also very exciting times for Tracy Fleury and the Team Homan rink, two for two in terms of bonspiel victories and undefeated through two events, stringing together four straight wins in following up the Saville Shootout title with their championship at the Points Bet Invitational on Monday.
After disposing easily of Shaelyn Park of Moncton (11-1) in their preliminary game, the Ottawa-based quartet that also includes Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes bested Isabelle Ladouceur of Whitby 10-6 (teams were tied 6-6 after seven ends) in the quarter-finals, jumped all over Christina Black of Halifax early, up 7-3 after four ends and posting a 10-5 win in the semis before defeating three-time defending Scotties champion Kerri Einarson of Manitoba 9-7 in the final.
Team Homan will now prepare for a pair of upcoming Grand Slam of Curling events, staying in Ontario for the Tour Challenge October 17th to 22nd in Niagara Falls and then venturing east for the Boost National – Pictou County in Nova Scotia from November 7th to the 12th.
******************************************************************************At this time of year, it honestly doesn’t take a whole lot to get Tom Leonard excited about the new curling season.
The General Manager and Head Icemaker at NCUCC is as busy as anyone involved with the game these days, between taking the steps to ensure ice was ready for their October 2nd launch to league curling and then assisting with all of the various administration elements involved to running their club.
“I am excited that leagues are on the upswing as far as attendance goes across all of our leagues,” said Leonard, who enjoys a well-deserved reputation as one of the very best curling icemakers in the country. “We’re excited that our retention from our “Learn to Curl” program is up around 80%. People are taking the program and then enrolling in leagues.”
Unlike most people, Leonard is not necessarily nearly as excited when the thermometer continues to hover above 25 degrees Celsius into October – though the recent warm spell was not nearly as problematic as I first imagined.
“Most hockey and curling facilities can handle warm temperatures,” he said. “Most of the buildings, refrigeration-wise, have no issues with temperature. It’s when the moisture that comes from applying the water to the refrigerated area and creates humidity, that’s when an issue comes into play.”
“With our building, without a dehumidifier, it becomes difficult not so much to put ice in but to maintain ice,” Leonard added.
As for the 2023-2024 curling season ahead, the ultra-friendly lifelong Sudburian senses an encouraging year for all of the curling rinks in the region. “It was very evident at the national championships last year (2023 Canadian Mixed Doubles; 2023 U Sports / CCAA Curling Championships – both hosted in Sudbury) that this city is ready for curling and wants curling.”
“I am hoping that all of the facilities see the trends that we are seeing with an influx of new clients and more people curling,” Leonard added. “I would like to see us work with other facilities with some sort of strategic plan to attract other demographics (new Canadians and such) and make the game available to them.”
“That would be a really good goal for all of our facilities to try and attain.”
