Team MacEwan hit the ice a different team last October.
The addition of youngster Olivier Bonin-Ducharme to the fold (the now 22 year-old qualifies as a youngster given the remaining quartet of Sandy MacEwan, Dustin Montpellier, Luc Ouimet and Lee Toner are all north of 34 years of age) was the first significant roster change in a few years for the NCUCC (Northern Credit Union Community Centre) based squad.
And for as much as the quintet that represented Northern Ontario at the 2026 Montana’s Brier in St John’s (Newfoundland) return their roster in exactly the same slots in which they competed for the entire second half of the winter of 2025-2026, there is a little something different this time around.
“There’s a certain assertive feel to the team now; at least that’s what I feel,” said Bonin-Ducharme as the New Liskeard raised second begins the final year of his Masters in Sociology studies at Laurentian University. “We’re meant to be in the playoffs. We’re meant to be contenders.”
“We’re not just happy to be there.”
The integration of Bonin-Ducharme to the mix brought about some initial testing of the waters in terms of a specific lineup which worked best with the following serving as the template from the time they competed at the Stu Sells Brantford Nissan Classic (December of 2025) forward: MacEwan throwing fourth stones; Montpellier throwing vice stones but holding the broom; Bonin-Ducharme at second; Ouimet and Toner sharing the lead position.
For as much as his curling resume was a noteworthy one as he joined Team MacEwan, Bonin-Ducharme experienced a whole new world last year. “It was the most intense curling season of my life,” he said. “I’ve made Junior Nationals before, but nothing compared to the training weekends and scrimmage games that we played to prepare for the Brier.”
In the end, it left Team MacEwan carrying a great deal of positivity into their current schedule, apparently very well-placed positivity as the gents strung together five straight wins to capture the Capital Fall Open in Ottawa last weekend. And impressive victories they were, defeating Guy Cloutier (7-1), Lisa Paddle (7-4), Billy Woods (6-3), Jenny Madden (11-4) and Woods, for a second time, in the final (7-0).
“In general, I found what we were good at was being patient and knowing when to flip the switch,” said Bonin-Ducharme. “A lot of our games started more tight than we were expecting, but we always felt in control. We did a really good job of being patient, knowing that we could capitalize on a miss.”
“There was a sense that if we could get to the finals, we were confident that we could win.”
For as much as one senses the bar has been raised with Team MacEwan, the reality of their individual situations prohibits a full-on head-first leap into the type of schedule that might be maintained by many of the top dozen or so men’s teams in the country.
“We had this conversation and the consensus was: if it works, don’t fix it,” said Bonin-Ducharme. “I would love to go on the big tour and tour the country, but at this point in my life, it would be really tough to do – and I think that feeling is shared throughout the team.”
Team MacEwan will have the chance to defend their NOCA banner from January 27th to 31st (2027) in Fort Frances, with the Jordan Chandler rink from Manitoulin and the merged Trevor Bonot / Dylan Johnston Thunder Bay entry expected to rank among the top contenders to the throne.
In terms of balancing a chaotic schedule with work commitments, few will have more on their plate than Sudbury native Abby Deschenes. This winter will see the graduate of Lockerby Composite squeezing time between her women’s team bonspiels with her time spent on the Mixed Doubles circuit with partner Brayden Sinclair of Thunder Bay.
Last weekend, the duo participated in the Guelph Mixed Doubles event, posting a 3-2 record in Pool D and qualifying from that bracket along with the Riley Craig / Brendan Craig partnership into quarter-final action as a total of 24 mixed doubles teams assembled at the Guelph Curling Club.
Deschenes and Sinclair dropped an 8-6 decision to Terri Weeks and Sam Steep but are right back at it this weekend, part of the 20 pairing field that are part of the Kemptville Mixed Doubles bonspiel. The locals lost a 7-4 contest with Paige Ferguson and Fionn Keon on Friday morning and are back on the ice mid-afternoon, battling Michelle and Jerry Butler from Guelph.
Closer to home, the six area rinks are in various stages of preparation, with the NCUCC likely to host the first bonspiel of the season in Sudbury. The Opening Bonspiel 2026 is set for the weekend of October 16th to 18th, with registrations maxed out.
Over at the Idylwylde on Sunday, 18 foursomes will take part in Swing and Sweep, a golf / curling duathlon, of sorts. Winter Operations Manager Amanda Gates noted that play in a couple of their weekly leagues will begin next week, with the balance to follow in mid-October.
On a personal note, here’s hoping that the understandable merger of Curling Ontario, the Northern Ontario Curling Association and the Ontario Curling Council (understandable from the standpoint that simple numbers were making it difficulty to maintain staff in the NOCA, for sure) does not mean that folks like myself will not be able to access results from key bonspiels (provincials and the like) as easily as we did when the NOCA handled these things.
I have grown accustomed to being spoiled by the good folks at the NOCA, easily able to print off all competing teams, schedules and then follow with up to the second results housed directly on the NOCA website. It would be nice if that same standard is maintained with Curling Ontario.
