If the Idylwylde Golf & Country Club aspires to return to a place of prominence in the Sudbury and area curling scene, then the Mallette-Goring Open Cash Spiel is a step in the right direction.

Now in its second year, the newly created bonspiel appears to have found an early January niche in the curling calendar, creating a draw that attracted both a highly competitive and thoroughly intriguing array of teams last weekend at the Walford Road facility.

“The timing of it is great,” noted “A” champion skip Sandy MacEwan, his team of Dustin Montpellier, Lee Toner and Luc Ouimet besting the Jake Horgan rink (Max Cull, Kendra Carriere, Ryan Simms) 7-4 in the final.

“The purpose of this bonspiel this weekend is to gear up for provincials that are coming up in a few weeks,” MacEwan added. “There really are not a lot, if any, bonspiels locally at this time of year. We saw it last year, with the first annual and we jumped all over it.”

While the field remains largely Nickel City based, or those with some ties to the region, one can’t help but to think that word will spread, especially among those who are taking a shot at nationals in the first few months of the new year.

“I thought it was probably even more competitive this year than lsat year – which was nice for us,” said MacEwan. “That’s the main thing for us: get some games in and get some situations.”

One of no less than 14 men’s entries who will make their way to Little Current for the NOCA Provincial Championships on January 23rd (there’s another six women’s teams competing there as well), Team MacEwan knows that the event is fairly wide open, even with the return to a revamped Tanner Horgan (defending champion) crew.

“We lived the Brad Jacobs era for 12 years – we experienced that first hand,” said MacEwan. “We know there’s going to be lots of stong teams in Little Current and we know that we are one of them. It’s easy sometimes to get too far ahead of yourself. It’s best for us to stay in the moment and the rocks will fall where they will fall.”

A native of Iroquois Falls now living in North Bay, NOCA Executive Director Laura Forget was part of a “C” championship rink that covers a good swath of the province, though much revolves around Sudbury.

Skip Abby Deschene is a long-time resident and graduate of Lockerby Composite and while both Candice Jackson (lead) and Stephanie Barbeau (vice) have lived in eastern Ontario for some time now, the latter maintains srong ties to this year, a CND grad and daughter of Michel Barbeau and Louise Hickey.

“I was unexpectedly asked to play with this team and it was hard to say no,” said Forget, who filled in at an early season bonspiel when initial team skip Lauren Mann was unavailable - and then stuck around full-time as the need presented itself. “It was really exciting to step in and play in some high level events.”

“Yes, it’s a juggling act with my husband and two young kids at home and a super busy job that is obviously the busiest during the curling season. But just going out there and having some great games, playing against some of the top teams in women’s curling is wonderful.”

Moreover, Forget can utilize the time spent in Sudbury with so many avid curlers to continue to maintain a solid finger of the pulse of her sport, looking for where the priorities should lie as she convenes meetings regularly with the NOCA (Northern Ontario Curling Association) Board of Directors.

“Definitely youth curling; the gap that was left behind by Covid is something that we are really noticing,” said Forget. “It’s not just at the U18 level but even at U15, helping clubs grow their programs. And coaches and ice techs – we need more that are trained and certified. We need a succession plan there.”

“And then the infrastructure at the clubs, helping clubs find grants for upgrades,” she added. “And finally, just getting more people curling more often.”

The “B” event was captured by Team Mike Assad (Jason Strelezki, Joe Greco, Matt Gordon), edging the Jeff Sloan quartet (Joe Natale, J-P Harman, Scott Patterson) 6-4 in the final.

Meanwhile, a pair of teams with Sudbury connections punched their tickets to nationals as playdowns started up in earnest last week.

Deciding relatively late to enter a team in the 2024 NOCA U18 Boys & Girls Provincial Championships in Long Lac, the newly-formed quintet of Kameron Tellier, Kelton Tellier, Samantha Digiglio, Karleigh McNaughton and Gilliane Nadon are returning home awfully happy that they did.

Representing the Idylwylde Golf & Country Club and the only local entry across a field of 16 combined boys and girls teams, the Tellier rink advanced to the finals before losing a hard fought 6-5 battle to the Claire Dubinsky foursome from Kakabeka Falls.

However, with Northern Ontario having two entries to nationals, Team Tellier will be accompanying their northwestern Ontario counterparts to Canadians scheduled to take place from February 5th to the 10th at the Hunt Club and R.A. Centre in Ottawa.

Meanwhile in North Bay, a Sudbury presence at Masters nationals in Chicoutimi in April was confirmed, even if the NOCA championship team were donning the colours of the Community First Curling Centre in Sault Ste Marie.

The Harnden rink of Bruce Munro (skip), Al Harnden (vice), Mark Borgelli (second) and Duncan Bell (lead) trimmed the Jamie Graham North Bay Granite Club quartet 5-4 in the final, with all but Harnden calling Sudbury home in the NOCA champions lineup.

“We got aggressive when we had to get aggressive and the ice was such that it allowed you to do that,” said Munro, who will be making his fifth appearance at the Canadian event, never having finished worse than second (two gold; two silver). “I think that was the difference.”

While Munro was throwing fourth rocks, it was Harnden who was calling the games – as Munro paid tribute to the overall quality of the skips on hand for the playdowns. “What’s really cool about curling with guys like Al Harnden, Al Hackner and Robbie Gordon is the fact that they know the game so well,” he said.

“They’re great strategists and we have confidence in their ice, so all you have to do is throw rocks. You don’t have to think. It takes a lot of the pressure off throwing skip rocks.”