A total of 13 women's teams gathered in Saint-Félicien (Québec) for a Summer Series bonspiel this past weekend, with three having nickel city connections in their lineups.
All three of those teams would advance to the six team playoff round, with Danielle Inglis of Ottawa (with Kira Brunton at vice) emerging as tournament champions when all was said and done.
Joined by the front end of Calissa Daly (second) and Cassandra de Groot (lead), Inglis and Brunton posted a 4-0 mark in round robin play before edging Lauren Horton 8-7 in the semis to earn a berth in the final.
Team Inglis scored a huge three in the seventh opposite their Montreal adversaries to go up 8-6 before holding Horton to one in the last end for the win.
Matched against Christina Black (Nova Scotia) in the championship encounter, Inglis stole two in the sixth (now up 4-3), forced Black to take one in the seventh and then capitalized on last rock in the eighth for a 5-4 win.
Included in their pool play results was a 9-2 win over Lauren Mann, curling out of Timmins this year with a team that includes Stephanie Barbeau at vice and Abby Deschene at second, both with local ties, as well as lead Candice Jackson.
After finishing the preliminary action with a record of 2-2, Team Mann survived tie-breaker victories over Melissa Adams (Fredericton - 5-4) and Megane Fortin (Saguenay - 7-0) to earn the sixth and final playoff spot.
Unfortunately, that was the end of the line for the rink that will compete in the NOCA playdowns this winter, dropping a 5-3 decision to Team Black.
Mann's rink was down 5-1 after five ends but took one in the sixth and stole another in the seventh to make things interesting before running out of rocks in the eighth.
Closing off the regionally-linked teams was the Isabelle Ladouceur entry that featured Jamie Smith (Coniston) at second, along with vice Grace Lloyd and lead Rachel Steele.
Team Ladouceur looked formidable in their five team bracket, winning three of four to post a 3-1 mark, same as Laurie St Georges from Montreal.
They could not, however, get past the Montreal squad with Lauren Horton at skip, beaten 7-3 in quarter-final play.
All three of the Sudbury-dotted rinks are back in action on the weekend of September 8th to the 10th, attending the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, a competition that will also see the Chelsea Brandwood rink (with Megan Smith at vice) as well as the Tori Zemmerlink rink (with Lauren Rajala at second) in the field.