Queen’s curling may have limited exposure on campus, but three Queen’s students are making the case that it’s not for lack of talent.
Two weeks ago Lisa Farnell, Sci ’08, Kim Brown, BMus ’08 and Jeff Grant, Sci ’09, represented Ontario at the National Junior Curling Championships.
With an 8-5 record, the Ontario junior men’s team on which Grant is the vice lost a close 7-6 semifinal to Alberta. Grant curled 71 per cent in the semis.
Farnell and Brown led the women’s team to a 6-5 record during round robin play, which was not enough to make the playoffs. Still, Farnell said she was pleased with the way the tournament in Thunder Bay went.
“I feel like we are in the same league as these people,” she said. “It was a real learning experience.”
The field at the national championships included rinks from across the country, with each province represented, along with the Northwest Territories, the Yukon and the hosts, Northern Ontario. Each team is comprised of four members: a skip, a vice, a second and a lead, and each team was victorious in their respective provincial championship.
One of the unique things about the national championships was the lack of differentiation between the skills of the teams, Farnell said.
“I didn’t know what to expect going in,” she said. “Looking back, we could have beaten anyone.” Saskatchewan ended up winning the women’s side, defeating Ontario 8-6 in the round robin by scoring two in the eleventh end. Alberta won the men’s side by defeating Ontario in the semifinals.
Brown and Farnell traveled to bonspiels almost every weekend from September to November while attending school in Kingston. They said the tournaments gave them a great chance to get to know each other and get curling experience.
“Ontario has so many competitions,” Farnell said. “It is not as long of a season in the other provinces.” The other provinces also do not have the same level of competition. In the Northwest Territories there were three women’s teams competing for the trip to Thunder Bay, while in Ontario there were more than a dozen teams in the provincial championships alone.
For Farnell’s rink, the trip to the provincial championships was a very special week.
“We made provincials in 2005 and went 1-6,” she said. “We were not expecting to win.”
However, the Farnell rink made one personnel change, and with some hard work went undefeated on their way to winning provincials in 2006.
“We knew the field much better the second time,” Farnell said. “We turned our serious faces on.” The Farnell rink rode their undefeated round-robin record into the final against an Ottawa rink that made it to the final in the 2005 provincial championships and lost.
“It was tough to watch them lose two years in a row,” Farnell said. “But we played really well that week.”
The road to nationals is a long one, but Farnell said that what the athletes take out of the curling are the experiences.
“It was awesome to represent Ontario,” Farnell said. “We all sat in the airport wearing matching jackets.” She said the importance of these jackets is that they were a true representation of being team Ontario.
“When we were sitting in the airport, one of the girls from another team came over in her jacket and said hello,” she said. “She was from Team New Brunswick, and it was really cool to meet people from all the other places.”
Part of the experience is also competing against the best young curlers from across the country, Farnell added.
“It is nerve-racking being against the best players in each province,” she said.
Even though both Ontario teams fell short of gold, Farnell said they are optimistic for the future. For her rink, the goal is to get back to nationals and keep persevering.
“I would love to go for the gold if we get back,” she said. “We will know the procedures and know the field.”
Richard Zussman will be joining James Bradshaw at the cell phone graveyard to remember those that left us earlier this week.
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