There is much to attract visitors to the Collingwood area.

For Sudbury native Kendra Lilly and teammates Krista Scharf, Ashley Sippala and Sarah Potts however, the appeal is fundamentally curling-based.

Understandably so.

The Thunder Bay rink made it back to back championships at the Stu Sells Living Waters Collingwood Classic, an 11-team bonspiel hosted recently at The Curling Club of Collingwood - much to the delight of Team Scharf.

"I think a lot of it has to do with the ice there; it's unbelievable," said Lilly, her team posting a 3-1 record in round robin play before knocking off Breanna Rozon of Oshawa (5-3 in QF), Chelsea Principi of Niagara Falls (7-6 in extra ends in SF) and the Sudbury foursome skipped by Krysta Burns in the final (9-2).

"It's the closest we seem to get to having arena ice conditions," added the graduate of Lockerby Composite. "The organizing committee puts on a really good event. It feels like going home when we are there, being somewhat in northern Ontario."

After carrying a five-player roster for the past two years, Team Scharf (formerly Team McCarville) have returned to the standard four-person rink, one that enjoys more than ten years of experience together - with a great deal of success along the way.

"I am typically a player who gets better the more reps that I have - I am sure most are," said Lilly. "So just to be able to play every single game is good."

Competing in just their third bonspiel of the year, the quartet who have made multiple appearances at the Scotties Tournament of hearts, finishing second in both 2016 and 2022.

"For us, because we don't play a lot of events, any time that we have time on the ice is super valuable and important for us," said Lilly. "This is a really good prep for provincials and hopefully Scotties."

Team Scharf will reconvene in Thunder Bay the weekend before Christmas as the city hosts their Major League Bonspiel, with the NOCA (Northern Ontario Curling Association) Championships set for January 6th to the 11th in North Bay.