We are at the midway point of the SDSSAA curling season and while the likes of the Lasalle Lancers and Lockerby Vikings boys as well as the Marymount Regals girls remain very much in the thick of the race for city titles, the graduation of experienced curlers such as Brendan Rajala and Ian Deschene and Valérie Ouimet has thrown the spotlight on other returnees.
As much as any other sport, curling seems to be just beginning to repopulate the grassroots level on a local basis and school curling often provides the ideal entry point for those who are new to the sport.
That was definitely the case for St Charles College Cardinals skip Logan West, back at the helm in a role that he has maintained since he first started in grade seven – and one he believes suits him well. “A lot of people find that being skip makes them nervous,” noted the 18-year-old grade 12+ student who has guided his team to a 3-1 record to date.
“They don’t like to throw last. I kind of like all of that pressure on me.”
Even as he now welcomes a whole slew of new faces to the team, some of his long-standing teammates having moved on to university and such, West recognized that the manner in which he embraces the role of skip is markedly different than his earliest of calls, back in grade seven.
“I was kind of winging it early on, trying to call what I thought was right at the time,” he said. “Looking back, I would be calling takeouts and our guys would be off the broom by a foot.”
With that in mind, West is hoping to leave something of a legacy for the curlers who hope to follow in his footsteps. “I’m trying to teach Quinn (Pigeau) the strategy, help him learn the game,” said West. “He will probably be skip when I am gone, so I want him to learn to call the game better.”
Lasalle Lancers’ vice skip Nathan Radey has no such concerns.
While the loss of Rajala is key, the return of skip Samantha DiGiglio and sibling Jason DiGiglio along with the addition of Caitlyn Connors, Kallie Canard and Olivia Lisi finds the Orange and Black tied for second place with Lockerby at 3-2, coming off a nice 7-3 win over the Collège Notre-Dame Alouettes on Wednesday.
“I think we’re pretty good this year,” said Radey, a 16 year-old grade 11 student who bumped up the lineup after first picking up curling back in grade four and returning to the ice, post-Covid.
“We do have a couple of new people, a couple of grade nines – but if they just continue what they are doing, they will get better. They will be on the broom more.”
This is one area where Radey has noticed a definite improvement in his game - and if the game is on the line, his preference would be to try to be on the broom while throwing up-tempo weight.
“I would probably perfect a takeout,” he said. “There really is only one weight I throw for takeout, but for a draw, there are a lot of different things – the ice to take, the rocks in front – just a lot more things to take into consideration.”
The young man who also enjoys his hockey is gradually getting more and more comfortable discussing his other winter pastime, all while sounding like he has played the game for a bit.
“For curling, I am learning a lot of the rules now, learning the terms,” said Radey. “I was already well versed in hockey terms, but not nearly as much in curling.”
Similar story for Drake Smith, the 17 year-old second on the Lockerby Vikings who helped lift his team past the Macdonald-Cartier Panthères by a final score of 6-2 this week. “I first started curling last year,” said the well-spoken grade 12 student. “I wanted to get into sports after the pandemic and curling seemed like an interesting one to do.”
“It’s not too competitive, so I don’t feel too stressed.”
It’s even less stressful now that Smith has garnered a much better feel for maintaining his balance coming out of the hack, allowing him to focus on other key elements of the shot-making process. “Balance is not really a problem anymore, so now I am thinking about the speed and whether I need to adjust that,” he explained.
“Mostly, it’s about consistency in getting the shots in the right area.”
As most every experienced curler will attest, the development of a feel for both weight and line is ultimately central to achieving said consistency. “Line is not as hard for me,” suggested Smith. “Line is a more tangible thing; you’re going in a certain direction. But with weight, you have to account for friction and such and what you want to do with that stone.”
With the likes of Sam Dumais (skip) and Mary Tripodi (vice) both back with Lockerby, Smith is able to focus on the skills that he considers critical playing the position of second. “I don’t think I really did anything big – but for most of the ends, I was throwing pretty consistently and sweeping really well,” he said.
“In terms of sweeping effectively, the main thing is to evaluate the weight of the stone. That really matters the most. You need to know how much you need to be sweeping, how hard you need to be sweeping.”
Leading the way in the boys standings are the St Benedict Bears, with veteran skip Sheamus Blum working closely with long-time coach Ron Gould and putting the team in great shape heading into 2024, having already recorded victories over both the Lancers and the Vikings.
Joining Blum in making up the 2023-2024 edition of the St Benedict curling team are vice Kaiden Brunelle, second Konnor Skene, with Lauren McCandless and Hannah Whitmore sharing the role of lead.
NOSSA qualifiers one year ago, the Marymount Regals continue to make the calls they need, leading the way in the SDSSAA girls curling circuit with their record of 5-0. The departure of 2023 skip Alex Buttery has slotted the remaining four returnees up one rung of the ladder, with Kameron Tellier (skip), Kelton Tellier (vice), Abby Hall (second) and Emily Riddle (lead) looking even more determined to earn a berth at OFSAA in the spring.
