More than 50% of Team MacEwan will be making their first ever appearance at the Montana’s Brier when Northern Ontario faces Yukon next Saturday afternoon in St John’s, Newfoundland.
A five man rotation that sees skip Sandy MacEwan leading his team of Dustin Montpellier (vice-skip), Olivier Bonin-Ducharme (second), Luc Ouimet (lead) and Lee Toner (alternate) into battle makes the math work on that first statemen, in case you were wondering.
While both Ouimet and Toner have experience under their belts as the front end from a pair of Mike Jakubo rinks that broke through some 15 years ago now, the remaining trio are experiencing all that this national curling tradition has to offer for the very first time – and their emotions are understandably on full display.
“This is a dream come true,” offered Montpellier, a 34 year-old who threw his first stones at the age of 11 as a member of the Copper Cliff Curling Club. “I’m still feeling giddy over this win.”
And so they should.
A 6-5 win over John Epping and the Horgan lads in the NOCA final, a top ten team in the world rankings for much of the past year, is indeed the stuff that dreams are made of. That said, the bulk of this very same team (Bonin-Ducharme is a new addition for the 2025-2026 season) lost the Northern final in 2023 win a tight 7-5 loss to a Horgan rink that then included Darren Moulding and Colin Hodgson.
“We have been close to winning this thing in the last few years,” said Montpellier. “I think the key to our success this year is the work that we did with our sports psychologist (Kira Brunton) on the mental side of the game. “It allowed us to shift our focus and perspective and got us over the mental hurdle of having lost those previous finals.”
“We were able to shift from outcome-based pressures to a more task-oriented focus.”
That task was hardly an easy one given the depth of talent at the 16-team NOCA Tankard in North Bay in January, with MacEwan and company qualifying via the “C” bracket, forced to reel off four straight wins in a 24-hour stretch (three of those came by a single point) in order to earn the title.
For as much as the veteran presence of Toner, Ouimet and MacEwan was key to maintaining an even keel throughout this chaos, there is also no down playing the importance of the fresh face that is the native of New Liskeard / Laurentian University student who first garnered attention in Sudbury as a member of the Samuel Branconnier – Patrik Labrosse U21 team that competed at the 2021 U21 NOCA Championships.
“The second element that helped us win was the addition of Olivier at the second position,” said Montpellier. “His big weight accuracy allowed us to shift our strategy slightly and his sweeping has made of lot of extra shots for us this year. Although he’s only 22 years old, his maturity and his calm demeanour are very impressive.”
“He fit in perfectly on the team.”
With off-ice schedules that require a great deal of time and patience to navigate in conjunction with their curling commitments, members of the rink that proudly represents the NCUCC (Northern Credit Union Community Centre) still found a way to raise the bar in terms of expectations, partly due to an expanded team roster.
“We’ve played more bonspiels this season (6) than any of our previous seasons,” noted Montpellier. “We’ve also practiced with purpose more than any year. At the beginning of the year, we all agreed to give it that 10% to 20% more effort – and I do believe that paid off.”
Competing in Brier - Pool B (9 teams) that also features Matt Dunstone (Manitoba – 4th in World Curling rankings), Mike McEwen (Saskatchewan – 14th) and Kevin Koe (Alberta – 23rd) will not be easy, though the current entry from “Fear the Moose” country may be as well equipped as any underdog to tackle the heavyweights.
“Our team seems to rise up and play better when we play those big juggernaut teams,” said Montpellier. “We have had success in the past, winning against some of the big teams. This gives up confidence that we can not only play with them, but win some of these games.”
Still, most would acknowledge that expectations for this quintet are relatively modest, even if not within the five-person squad – and that is not necessarily a bad thing. “The key for us will be to stay within ourselves, do the things that we’ve practiced and keep our “play free” mentality,” said Montpellier.
“We want to take it all in and enjoy every moment.”
That holds true for any set of nationals, including the 2026 CCAA / U Sports Canadian Curling Championships taking place in Regina – an event that is also welcoming Sudbury talent to the party. With a record of 4-1 currently and two round robin games remaining, the McMaster Marauders women’s entry that finds Lo-Ellen Park graduate Clara Dissayanake throwing third stones are well positioned to duplicate – or better – their silver medal performance from one year ago.
Though out of the playoff hunt, Queen’s Gaels vice-skip and Ecole secondaire catholique du Sacré-Coeur product Mia Toner knows that the experience of matching up with the very best female university curlers in the country will serve of well as she completes her third year of post-secondary studies in Kingston this spring.
