A local curling rink is ready to makes its mark at the provincial championships.
With a win at regionals, Team Duizer recently earned a berth to the provincials March 7 - 10 in Fort Frances.
The team includes skip Matthew Duizer, third Turner Cowen, second Justin Francoeur, lead Ryan Hodgins and fifth Colin Duizer. Their coach is Andrew Duizer.
This is the second trip to provincials for the team.
“Last year we were the youngest team there and five of our games came down to the last end, the last rock,” Matthew said, explaining it felt good to know they had a chance against the other teams.
Since the last provincial competition, the team has been making changes.
Kapuskasing's Francoeur came on as a new third. And on the ice, Andrew said they've been working on delivery and hitting where the shot is called. With everyone having a growth spurt in the last year, he said their sweeping has improved dramatically as well.
Going into Fort Frances, their goal is to finish in the top half of the eight-team competition.
“Our goal is to do good, but we know we could be up there,” Matthew said.
Team Duizer started off the curling season with a win, and they've been consistent since.
“Basically everywhere that we’ve been so far, we’ve been into the final or into the semi,” said Andrew.
Because there weren't enough teams for the U21 (junior) provincials, they even competed there.
“They went to the U21 this year to basically set themselves for goals in the future and to play against better teams,” said Andrew. “At the U21 it was kind of three older teams and three younger teams, and we did well against the three younger teams and we got beat up by the three older teams. But it’s kind of what we expected, so it’s been pretty good.”
Team Duizer has been together for six years competitively.
Matthew has been curling for eight years, with his teammates having an extra year of experience on the skip.
The local members started playing at the McIntyre Curling Club's Little Rocks program, and their love of the sport grew from there.
“It’s kind of the comradery between people, compared to other sports like hockey or basketball where it’s a whole team and the only time you really ever get to talk to the other team is shaking hands. You’re always on the ice with the other team, it’s always fair play...and sportsmanlike, and there’s never any trash talking, it’s just fun overall,” Matthew said.
As the skip, he's also passionate about the strategic side and looking ahead for what every possible move could mean.
“It’s like chess, one wrong move and you may lose,” he said.
Travelling across northeastern Ontario comes at a cost for the team.
They had sponsors throughout the year who helped with costs uch as entry fees. While the registration fee for the provincials has been paid for already, they are looking for help to cover travel and accommodations for the four days they'll be in Fort Frances.
The winner of the provincials moves on to represent Northern Ontario at the nationals being held in Alberta.
If an individual or business wants to help out, they can contact the McIntyre Curling Club at [email protected] or email the team at [email protected].
