Between the various competitions that were skewered by the arrival of Covid-19 and the ensuing machinations of Curling Canada, looking to recapture age-driven opportunities for young athletes while dealing with a shifting landscape of their sport in the land, it’s been more than a little tricky to try and keep track of where local teams sit exactly on the spectrum of U18 and U20 eligibility.
Thankfully, Team Croisier has simplified matters for us heading into the 2022-2023 season.
With three quarters of the team aging out next spring, this will be the final kick at the can, in terms of taking their best shot at the 2023 New Holland Canadian Junior Curling Championships for the rink now based out of the newly rebranded Curl Sudbury facility.
While Bella Croisier (21) was fortunate enough to fall under the temporary overage designation that lapses at the end of this year, both younger sister Piper (19) and newcomer Celeste Gauthier (turning 20 next week) will join their teammate in making the move to Open Women’s curling in 2023-2024.
Unfortunately, due to the limitations of one overager per rink, Team Croisier was forced to tap into the Ottawa curling market once again as both Gauthier and 16 year-old Dominique Vivier make the move from the nation’s capital to northern Ontario. With on-line education now common place, both Gauthier (3rd year student at Toronto Metropolitan University) and Vivier (still in high-school) are able to complete their studies while residing in Sudbury.
And while there remains some work to be done in terms of finalizing team chemistry – a finalized lineup has not yet been decided upon – the early signs are more than a little encouraging: witnessed by the fact that Team Croisier captured the U21 Royal Slam in Kitchener in early September, winning five of their six encounters, including a 6-0 shutout of Tori Zemmelink in the final.
“It’s been increasingly hard to find teammates because of the age changes, so there’s a lot of shuffling around,” Croisier confessed. “We’re having a lot of fun with our new teammates, excited to see what happens this year, excited to get on to some practice ice soon.”
In terms of the general development of their games, Croisier stressed that the pandemic did not necessarily set things back a whole lot, especially on an individual basis. “One of the good things about Covid is that we’ve had ample time to practice,” she said. “I don’t think we are behind the eight ball in that sense.”
“But playing more games is important to us this season, building team dynamics with a new team.”
A couple of weeks after their win in Kitchener, the crew were back in the same setting, part of the women’s field at the K-W Bonspiel. An overall record of 1-3, which included a 6-3 win over Laurie St-Georges and a tough 8-7 loss to Cathy Auld, would leave the Croisier foursome outside of the playoffs, but still taking away plenty of positives from the trip.
“For us, it’s not about wins and losses,” said Croisier. “We had a great weekend at the Junior Slam, but even at the women’s even, we accomplished a lot of our goals.”
As for the need to cement, in stone, their exact lineup, the quartet is in no big rush. “There’s still a long season ahead of us,” said Croisier. “It’s going to be about finding the right mix, whenever that happens.”
Also getting off to a quick start this year is Sudbury native Tracy Fleury and her new rink: Rachel Homan, Emma Miskew, Sarah Wilkes. The new entry that brings together two of the top female skips in the country hit the ground running with seven straight victories at the Saville Shoot-Out in early September, edged in the event final by Jennifer Jones (5-4).
The equally new Tanner Horgan rink (Darren Moulding, Jake Horgan, Colin Hodgson) also kicked off their 2022-2023 schedule in Alberta, falling short of the playoff round at the ATB Okotoks Classic. Team Horgan beat Yusuke Morozumi (7-1), but lost to Colton Flasch (8-2), beat Jacques Gauthier (7-3) but lost to Matt Dunstone (7-2) before being eliminated by Rob Nobert (6-3).
Last weekend in Ottawa, Sudbury curlers Sandy MacEwan, Dustin Montpellier, Lee Toner and Luc Ouimet made the most of their travels eastward, making their way to the championship flight, eliminated in the semi-finals, but walking away with a $1000 cheque towards their expenses.
The MacEwan rink secured one of the top four qualifying slots in the field of 32 teams after taking down, in succession, Jennifer Harvey, Bryan Cochrane and Laura Johnston. From there, they sent Jean Michel Menard to the sidelines before falling one step short of the grand championship match, beaten by Jason Camm.
And finally, closer to home, there is exciting news out of the former Curl Sudbury facility to share. Thanks to a naming package / partnership deal, the facility just off Howey Drive will be recognized as the Northern Credit Union Community Centre for the next three years.
“This partnership will fund renovations to the lounge, the washrooms and change rooms, as well as energy efficiencies and equipment upgrades,” noted manager Tom Leonard in a media release earlier this week. “Most of all, it will also allow us to focus on growing the game of curling and making it more diverse, equitable and inclusive.”
