With four appearances at Senior Nationals already on their resume, the NCUCC (Northern Credit Union Community Centre) rink of Robbie Gordon, Ron Henderson, Dion Dumontelle and Doug Hong were ready to take that next step.
Yes, that step that is also a testament to the passing calendars.
With the entire quartet having surpassed their 60th birthdays, Team Gordon would secure their first ever Northern Ontario Masters Curling Championship, earning the right to represent the NOCA at the Canadian playdowns hosted at Thistle – St Andrews (TSA) Curling Club in New Brunswick last week.
While Ron Henderson was unable to attend the event, still recovering from eye surgery, the locals were able to summon the services of Bruce Munro, a two-time Canadian Masters champion while playing lead for Al Hackner in 2017 and 2022.
At this point, the national tournament for the 60+ curling folks is still played in a club setting and is not yet a formally sanctioned Curling Canada event – but those are pretty much the only other differentiators – well, except for age.
“Everything else felt like a true national event,” said Dumontelle, his team advancing all the way to the gold medal encounter before dropping a 3-2 decision to two-time world champion Wade White and his team from Alberta.
“When you get to a Seniors (national), you’re playing the guys who have played in the Brier and stuff,” Dumontelle continued. “When you get to the Masters, you’re playing against guys who have been among the top seniors.”
In fact, White was one of three former Canadian Senior champions on hand, with Randy Neufeld (MB – 2015) and Alan O’Leary (NS – 2014) also in the field along with British Columbia skip Lyle Sieg, the retired civil engineer who holds dual citizenship and captured gold at the World Senior Curling Championships in 2015 with Team USA.
Despite making multiple appearances at nationals, Dumontelle and company will stress that none of this ever grows old – even as they do. “As you get older, you never know if you are going to another national,” said Dumontelle. “You appreciate the fact that you are going to get another heart.”
“That wasn’t lost on any of us. It’s still an accomplishment to get there.”
******************************************************************************It’s that time of year when the re-jigged curling lineups are being unveiled and Sudbury based rinks are certainly not immune to the shuffling.
A week or so ago, the news came out on social media that the Krysta Burns rink were welcoming a back-end addition as an import as Jestyn Murphy joins forces with the crew that also features Laura Masters and Sara Guy.
A graduate of Guelph University and current resident and teacher in Mississauga, Murphy is a very familiar face to the Burns trio, one of which they were keeping their eyes. “We had heard rumblings that her team might be breaking up and we were kind of trying to listen to those rumblings because we knew that we would be searching for somebody,” said Burns.
“The reason that we thought to ask her was that we had played her during my whole junior career and we actually enjoyed playing each other. I could make jokes with her, she would me jokes back with me. She seemed like a fun, light person to be around, which is kind of why we asked her.”
Furthermore, the life-curling balance that is so critical was a near-perfect fit as the new Team Burns looked to finalize their competitive schedule for 2023-2024. “The three of us are kind of on the same page that we are career-focused – and we had that discussion with her too,” said Burns.
“We’re not looking to take extended periods of time away from work.”
Burns noted that she expected the team schedule to be in something of the mid-range, perhaps supplementing provincial playdowns with another four or five weekend bonspiels.
******************************************************************************Make it three NOCA Brokerlink Mixed Provincials titles in a row for the Fort William Curling Club quartet of Trevor Bonot, Jackie McCormick, Mike McCarville and Amanda Gates.
The Sudbury lead and her northwestern Ontario friends posted an undefeated 5-0 round robin record in Thunder Bay two weeks ago before outscoring Dylan Johnston, Ashley Palmer, Chris Briand and Marcy Barry 7-4 in the final on Sunday morning.
Team Bonot, who dropped the 2022 Canadian final to the Quebec rink skipped by Félix Asselin (most recently in town for the Canadian Mixed Doubles), hit the ground running at Northerns with wins over Tyler Stewart (9-3), Robyn Despins (6-5), Jackson Marchant (12-3), Kevin Brown (8-4) and Dylan Johnston (5-4), going back to back with their clubmates the next day.
With the win, Gates, Bonot and company have earned the right to represent Northern Ontario at the 2023 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship in Swift Current (Saskatchewan) from November 5th to the 11th (2023).
They are also the first foursome to ever three-peat with an intact lineup in the almost sixty year history of the NOCA Mixed Championships.
******************************************************************************Finally, the 2022-2023 curling season wraps up in earnest, on a local level, this coming weekend as the Capreol Curling Club stages the Open – Mixed Bonspiel while the Copper Cliff Curling Club is home to the Post Bonspiel, with some 48 teams expected to be in the field for the traditional year-end closing event.
