The Rideau Curling Club continues to churn out some of the country’s top players, with the Centretown club’s senior women’s team recently finishing second in the national championships.
Representing Ontario, the team lost a close final match, 8-6, to New Brunswick at the Canadian Senior Curling Championship in Digby, N.S., a national tournament for curlers over the age of 50.
The team, consisting of Diana Favel, Jennifer Langley, Brenda Moffit and skip Joyce Potter, entered the final game with a nearly perfect record of nine wins and two losses.
But a few unfortunate key misses in the championship final gave the game to skip Heidi Hanlon’s New Brunswick team.
“It’s too bad because you always hope you’re going to have your best game when it’s important,” says Potter. “That just wasn’t the way it turned out.”
The highlight of Team Ontario’s run for the championship was a remarkable comeback against British Columbia.
The team recovered from a 9-1 deficit, stealing points in each of the final five ends.
Potter credits the success to her team’s chemistry and positive attitude –something that is hard to come by for a team that has played together less than a year.
“For the first year together, to do as well as we have, is really quite something,” she says.
The teams entered the finals with identical records of 9-2, tying them for the top spot. Hanlon was able to avenge a loss suffered in last year’s final to secure her province’s first-ever victory in the championship.
Hanlon’s team will now represent Canada in next year’s World Championships at a date and site yet to be announced.
As a curler since the age of 12, Potter says her favourite part of the game is the competition and the thrill of setting a goal and working hard at achieving it all year.
She says that the Rideau Curling Club on Cooper Street boasts a full membership from year-to-year, but there remains a shortage of new members.