Sure, they have their NOCA (Northern Ontario Curling Association) predecessors to thank for the 2024 Northern Ontario double entries to the 2024 New Holland Canadian Juniors in Fort McMurray – but the simple fact is that the Northern Credit Union Community Centre will be represented by no less than three teams at the week-long event next month.
Going in as the top seed from the region and NOCA champions is the Brendan Rajala men’s rink that includes Jackson Dubinsky, Jesse Crozier and Adam Wiersema, while both Team Deschene (Ian Deschene, Olivier Bonin-Ducharme, Brayden Sinclair, Connor Simms) and Team Toner (Mia Toner, Britney Malette, Justine Toner, Clara Dissanayake) are also in the field by virtue of finishing second in Northern Ontario.
That said, Team Rajala was not where the smart money was being placed with four draws in the books and Provincials entering the final two days of competition last weekend in New Liskeard. “We weren’t sitting in the best of positions,” said Rajala earlier this week, his team putting together a three-game winning streak at the best possible time.
“We had to win or we were out, so we were kind of stressing about that.”
Back to back to back losses to Team Deschene (10-5), Team (Kamdyn) Julien (10-5) and Deschene, for a second time (4-3) had Rajala and company still looking for their first win, with no margin for error remaining. Still, the eventual gold medal winners had at least some positives to cling to.
“In the first game against Deschene, the score really did not reflect how the game went,” said the young skip who has two years of eligibility remaining at the junior level and can return his entire team intact next year. “We really had just one bad end.”
“The second game was just a bad game for us, overall,” Rajala confessed. “We just weren’t in it.”
Game three was much better, even in a losing cause, with the local crew then knocking off Julien twice on Saturday, both by the identical score of 7-4 and almost matching that in the final with a 7-3 win over a Deschene team that had earned an automatic berth to the championship encounter by going 4-0 in round robin play.
“Overall, our focus was better (the last three games) and our communication was a lot better,” said Rajala, who now looks forward to adding yet another high end curling experience to his resume as he grows his game in preparation for Open Men’s competition a few years from now.
“The more competitive atmosphere of this event and the amount of games that we are getting in helps a lot, helps me to grow as a player,” said Rajala.
On the women’s side of the draw in New Liskeard, the Claire Dubinsky foursome from Kakabeka Falls topped the round robin standings with a record of 5-1, their only loss coming at the hands of the Deanna Chilton squad from Timmins.
Team Toner finished second at 4-2, beaten twice by Dubinsky (9-3 and 8-4), with the champs making it three in a row over the locals on Sunday morning in a much closer affair, holding on for an 8-7 victory.
U21 Nationals kick off on March 24th in Alberta, with all four of the NOCA teams in action on the opening Sunday of play.
As curling fans well know, we are right in the middle of the glut of top end Canadian Championships, with Sudbury also very well represented at the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Calgary.
Already on an absolute tear through the entirety of the 2023-2024 curling season to date, skip Rachel Homan, vice and Sudbury native Tracy Fleury and their front end of Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes have shown no signs of slowing down at their second Scotties as a team.
The second ranked team in the world ran the gamut in pool play, their 8-0 record earning the crew a matchup with Kerri Einarson and her Team Canada entry, first place finishers in Pool A at 7-1 on Friday afternoon. The winner of that match (*Homan won 7-5) will advance to the Page 1/2 game on Saturday evening, while the loser drops down to a qualifier game later tonight versus one of the third place teams.
The Krista McCarville Northern Ontario entry that features local product Kendra Lilly at second slid in as part of a five team Pool A logjam at 4-4, with the Manitoba quartet skipped by Kaitlyn Lawes moving on by way of the last shot draw tie-breaker. Making her first appearance at Scotties as a regular member of the team (she has been twice before as alternate), Kira Brunton (Lockerby Composite) played vice for the Danielle Inglis Ontario representatives, posting a record of 3-5 in Pool B.
Still with national caliber curling, it was exactly fifty years ago next week that skip Chucker Ross and his Idylwylde Golf & Curling Club rink of Frank Bell, Bob Tate and Rusty Tate departed for London (ON), site of the 1974 Macdonald Brier.
Now 89 years young and having just played in a recent event at his home club, Chucker Ross recalled some interesting tidbits from a vastly different time in the sport as he guided his team to a record of 4-6 – but a week which included a very big early win in that mix.
“In those days, it was a big deal when we played off with Northern Ontario and Ontario – and at that time, Paul Savage was their skip and Ed Werenich at vice,” recalled Ross. “We ended up beating them and they had to buy us a couple of drinks after the game, which was fun.”
“It (the Brier) seemed to be more social than it is now – and maybe that’s a good thing,” added Ross. “Things have changed.”
Noting that the Bill Tetley rink from Thunder Bay that turned the tables in 1975, defeating Ross and company in the Northern Ontario final, would go on and capture the Brier and finish third at Worlds, the well-respected member of the Sudbury Sports Hall of Fame suggested that navigating a similar pathway with his rink would have proved challenging.
“We were competitive – but we weren’t as good as some of the teams in our year,” said Ross.
Legendary Canadian curling icon Hector Gervais (1961 World Champion) guided his Alberta rink to the title with a record of 8-2, with Larry McGrath from Saskatchewan one game back at 7-3.
