Joey Payeur
They have known success and disappointment aplenty while “rocking” the ranks of the high school, Bantam, junior, and senior curling across the province.
They also know the latter of those elements can be learned from to achieve more of the first.
Fort Frances native and skip Hailey Beaudry, along with lead Erin Tomalty of Nestor Falls, will go back to that strategy once more as the former Muskies, joined by Thunder Bay-based rinkmates Kendra Lemieux (third) and Emily Cooney (second), went 3-4 for the Lakehead University Thunderwolves to finish fifth in Pool ‘A’–and just miss the playoffs–at last week’s Ontario University Association women’s curling championships in Oshawa.
Forging ahead like always, the black-and-gold alumni and their Thunder Bay teammates now will focus on the 2017 U Sports-Curling Canada University Championships.
While they didn’t finish in the top two at OUA (the normal standard to qualify for the nationals), Lakehead U. is hosting the event March 19-22, thus assuring the Thunderwolves an automatic berth in the field.
From NorWOSSA and NWOSSAA gold medals to near misses at OFSAA and various other provincial championships, Beaudry and Tomalty have helped each other rise to the top and survive numerous falls–remaining undaunted all the while.
Time to do it again.
“It’s always really good curling with Erin,” said Beaudry.
“This is our fifth year curling together and we really know how each other think in the game, and it helps a lot,” she remarked.
“Erin is always looking to make sure that there isn’t something I’m missing so that’s always really helpful,” Beaudry added.
“We know how each other throw our rocks and can communicate really well.”
That symbiotic relationship wasn’t quite so apparent in the first two draws at Oshawa, as the Lakehead crew fell 10-2 in six ends to the Ryerson Rams and 8-2 in seven to the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks.
A steal of one in the eighth and final end halted Lakehead’s misfortune as it slipped past the Laurentian Voyageurs.
But then after digging themselves a 7-1 hole after three ends, the Thunderwolves couldn’t come all the way back and lost a tough 9-8 decision to the Trent Excalibur.
The quartet showed their resilience in a 9-1, five-end crushing of the host University of Ontario Institute of Technology Ridgebacks to stay alive for a top-four spot in the pool to make the playoffs.
The Carleton Ravens had other ideas, however, extinguishing the Thunderwolves’ chances with a four-ender in the seventh that was the difference in a 9-5 triumph.
Instead of hanging its collective heads, the Lakehead crew flashed its resolve to fighting back from 4-1 down to the Western Mustangs–stealing three in the final end for an 8-5 victory.
“Really, most of our losses could have been preventable if we wouldn’t have given up big ends,” noted Beaudry.
“I think our biggest weakness was probably having at least one big end given up a game, and we are just going to work on it to make our performance better for nationals,” she pledged.
“We had really good communication all week and we have definitely grown a lot as a team over the past week.”
If they can keep that chemistry going come March, and considering they’re on home ice, a Canadian title may not be so far-fetched as one might think.
Considering the pedigree for perseverance among those on the Lakehead team, maybe even less so.
“I think we are going to have lots of fans at the nationals so that’ll be a great home-ice advantage,” Beaudry said.
“But I’m really optimistic about our ability to perform, and perform well at the nationals, so I’m really excited to see what we have in store,” she added.
“Until then, we will be practising like crazy to be able to be on top of our game.”
