Local curler Aili Chabot will be headed to Timmins for the U-18 nationals in just a few weeks to represent team Northern Ontario as a member of Team Lily Wright, curling out of the Kakabeka Falls Curling Club.
“I was playing mixed doubles at Kakabeka Falls last year and [coach] Andrew Sinclair, overheard me say I wouldn’t have a U-18 team for this year so he said he could take me on, he would ask the girls what they thought, and they said yes so that’s how we ended up as a team,” Chabot recounted.
Chabot joined the team in the second position with Lily Wright at Skip, Bella McCarville at Third, and Isabella Bron at lead.
Chabot has been a skip for a while but says she enjoys playing second and sweeping as she feels like there’s more team interaction when she’s not playing as a skip.
“I really like second, I’m pretty good with any position,” she said.
“Lately I’ve felt like skipping is not as much my thing. I like to collaborate with my teammates more because when you’re a skip you’re more on your own. Being second you get to interact more with the rest of the team and I love sweeping.”
As the season got underway Chabot had the opportunity to go to Thunder Bay to practice with the team a handful of times and they’ve also had a busy schedule.
“We’ve played in a few bonspiels, and we played in Duluth, MN and then we won the Ontario Winter Games Qualifier in Kakabeka,” she said.
The team rounded out the weekend with a 5-1 record to take top spot. Runners up Team Baker will also get to go to nationals as Team Northern Ontario 2. On the Boys side, three teams competed with Team Riley Winters coming out on top and runners up team Jacob Curtis also being named Team Northern Ontario 2.
Chabot said overall the weekend went well, the only lost one round robin game.
“It was pretty good. We had a five and one record, so we only lost one game. And it was just a bad game for us, and we’re playing a really strong team,” Chabot said.
“It was a good weekend, yeah, for sure, but yeah, it was nice to be here at home. And yeah, have all my family here, and my coaches, and all my friends.”
There was one local team in the U-18 provincials, skipped by Allie Saciuk. That team picked up Kara Koski from Kakbeka Falls for the event to play at third, and was rounded out by Second Natalia Saciuk and their lead was Maddie Tucker who was considerably younger than most of the rest of the competition. The young team finished with a 0-5 record but played well and had some close games.
Chabot has played with a U-18 team from Fort Frances in the past, but a few players have moved on recently after graduating from high school. Chabot remains a member of the Muskie high school team locally and Fort Frances will host NORWOSSA and NWOSAA championships in a few weeks.
She has a busy few weeks ahead as Team Wright will play in the U-18 nationals in Timmins from Feb. 8-14 and then is headed to the Ontario Winter Games in Orillia from February 19-22, while also keeping up with her studies and trying to fit practices in as well. She says she’s not really sure what to expect going to a national level event but is looking forward to it.
“I’m kind of going in blind, only our third, Bella, has been to a national event before on this team,” she said.
“We’re all excited, we’re all pumped. We’ll just have to see how the competition is and hope that we do well.”
