Early next month, Ottawa’s Dawn McEwen will take her place alongside scores of athletes as they pour into Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi to mark the opening of the 22nd Winter Olympics.
The former Ottawa Curling Club member qualified for the games late in 2013, as a part of Jennifer Jones’ rink. Though she now competes with Jones’ Winnipeg-based squad, support for McEwen has never wavered from a tight-knit Ottawa curling community she hails from.
“There aren’t a lot of competitive curlers in the Ottawa region, so we all end up knowing each other pretty well,” says Jenn Hanna, a former teammate of McEwen. “It was definitely very thrilling for all of us when Dawn qualified.”
Curling is just one aspect of the deep friendship between McEwen and Hanna, which began even before they started playing together in 1998. At the time, they were both 16-years-old and just emerging on the competitive scene in Ottawa. Though each had already been curling for a number of years, it was only after pairing up that the team became recognized as a powerhouse in junior women’s curling.
Joe Pavia is a long-time fixture of the Ottawa curling community. He now runs the Hogline Curlers Pro-Shop, but was just starting out as a junior employee with the Ottawa Curling Club when McEwen and Hanna were juniors themselves.
While there weren’t many other junior teams to play against, Pavia recalls a lack of competition did nothing to deter McEwen and Hanna from practicing all the time.
“They practiced much more than any of the adults,” says Pavia.
At the time, the Ottawa Curling Club was the only club to allow its junior members to compete against the adults — allowing McEwen and Hanna the chance to test their mettle against seasoned players on a regular basis. The duo’s access to good competition, combined with their sheer talent and dedication, led them to continued success over the next seven years. As the team qualified for provincials and then nationals, McEwen was quietly building a reputation thanks to her calm and collected demeanor and her effective play.
“I think it`s great to have someone with a little fire in them on the team,” says Hanna. “But you also need someone like Dawn to calm everyone down and let them focus.”
One memory in particular stands out to Hanna as an example of McEwen’s ability to focus her teammates during situations. Faced with a decision between a high risk shot for multiple points, and a safe shot for a single point during the playoffs of the Ontario championships, Hanna turned to McEwen to ask for her advice.
“She turned to me and says, ‘Take the risky shot Jenn, I know you’ll make it,’ ” says Hanna. “I knew at that point I was going to make the shot. She was the type of teammate who inspires you to have confidence in yourself.”
In 2007, McEwen was forced to make a tough decision. If she wanted to continue as a high-level curler, she would have to move to Winnipeg to join Jennifer Jones’ emerging squad. The decision was ultimately a good one, as the team would go on to win the 2008 World Championship, followed by three straight Scotties Tournament of Hearts Championships.