Latest news with #TeamNorthernOntario
CBC
05-05-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Team Northern Ontario beats Quebec to win gold at national wheelchair curling championship
Team Northern Ontario skip Douglas Dean said the team went to the 2025 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship in Boucherville, Que. determined to bring home the gold. After winning silver in 2016 and 2023, Dean said they knew they had a first-place finish within reach this year. "Just to get a medal at a national championship is a is a huge achievement. But after doing it twice, we thought to ourselves, 'we're not going to do it this year. We're not going to settle for silver. We're going to shoot for the gold'," Dean told CBC via phone from Toronto Pearson Airport on his way home to Thunder Bay. Team Northern Ontario defeated Team Québec 8-5 in the finals on Saturday to capture their first national title. Dean said they went point-for-point with the home team until scoring a three-ender in the fourth round, which allowed Team Northern Ontario to start to pull ahead. Team Northern Ontario was able to secure victory when Dean scored a perfect takeout, he said. "I got a double take out. That put the nail in the coffin for them, sealed it for us," said Dean. Vice-skip Gino Sonego said there were times when they weren't sure if they could pull off winning gold. After losing the second and third games of the tournament, he said the team had to refocus to ensure they won the remaining games. "If you make one little mistake sometimes and the other team capitalizes, that's all it takes. Lots of good competition out there," Sonego said. The team of Dean, Sonego, second Rick Bell, lead Lola Graham, alternate Aimee Epp and coach Doug Gelmich practice out of the Fort William Gardens arena in Thunder Bay. Sonego said the team has been playing together for about ten years. "It takes a lot of work to put the team together and stay together," he said. "It just takes a while to find the right people, the right dynamics." Sonego said that while the Fort William Gardens is fully accessible for wheelchair users, there currently aren't many wheelchair curlers in the area.
CBC
03-03-2025
- Sport
- CBC
'It's the dream': Sudbury brothers off to auspicious start in second appearance at curling championship
Team Northern Ontario got off to an auspicious start this weekend at the Canadian men's curling championships in Kelowna, BC. The team, led by Toronto's John Epping and featuring Sudbury brothers Tanner and Jacob Horgan and Dryden-born lead Ian McMillan, defeated New Brunswick 7-6 on Friday evening and Alberta 9-5 on Saturday before losing 6-5 to Team Canada on Sunday. It's the second trip to the championships for the Horgan brothers, who represented Northern Ontario in 2023 with Jacob as skip. "It's awesome," Jacob said of the return to the championship. "It's everything. Like growing up curling in Canada, the Brier's the pinnacle of Canadian sport. So it's awesome. It's the dream." The Epping rink is currently ranked 10th in the world curling team ranking, two spots behind Team Canada's Brad Gushue, making this their best season to date on tour. "We've racked up a whole bunch of wins," Tanner said. "Five WCT wins plus our provincials. We've racked up a bunch of points … This has been exactly what we wanted to do, exactly what we had in mind when we put the team together. And we're, yeah, exceeding our expectations." Team Epping won its berth in the championships by breezing through the northern Ontario playdowns in January, defeating competitors by wide margins and winning the final against Thunder Bay's Dylan Johnston by a score of 10-2. The brothers— whose sister, Tracy Fleury, plays third on Rachel Homan's team, which was just crowned national women's champions for the second straight year— are experienced competitors and have learned to enjoy the presence of crowds and TV cameras, Jacob said. "No pressure anymore," he said. "Honestly, [the] more people in the crowd, the better. More cameras, the better. [We] just can't get enough of it, really. It's awesome out there now." The curlers' mother serves as the cheering squad for the team, filling the arena with the sounds of a moose call, that's long been used by Northern Ontario curling fans. "You need a can, like a juice can," Kathy Horgan explained. "And you put a hole in one end. … and you have a string, preferably a thin string like a shoelace. And you wet it — like you tie it in there, you wet it, and then you just drag your hand on it."
