Joey Payeur
There are no guarantees in life—except for the fact at least two Fort Frances junior curling rinks will have a shot at a provincial championship.
Four squads will compete in the women’s division and two in the men’s when the local curling club hosts the Region 1 playdowns starting Friday.
And two-thirds of them will advance to either Sioux Lookout (women) or Kakabeka Falls (men) for the junior provincials Jan. 2-5.
“Because of the provincial allocations granted to each region, it turns out we can actually send three women’s teams to the provincials this year,” noted Fort Frances Curling Club president Ron Silver.
“So that means we’re guaranteed to send at least two women’s teams from Fort Frances.”
That’s because three of the four rinks taking part this weekend are local entries.
The most experienced squad will feature skip Hailey Beaudry, third Nicole Hartlin, second Erin Tomalty, and co-leads Tory and Anika Beaudry.
That quintet was dominant regionally last year, winning the Bantam girls’ Region 1 title to advance to the provincials in that age group while also capturing the NWOSSAA crown to qualify for OFSAA.
Coached by Taylor Hartlin, the Beaudry rink will be joined by two other local ones looking to get their own taste at the provincial level.
Skip Ashley Payne is slated to be accompanied by third Jillian Cousineau and lead Andrea Schram, but just who will play at second is less certain.
Katrina Slomke currently is listed on the official roster, but her availability was a question mark as of press time for coach Kim Beaudry.
“If Katrina can’t play, we have a girl coming up from Atikokan [Chloe Young] who will fill the spot,” noted Silver.
Also representing Fort Frances will be a quartet coached by Charlotte Bazylewski and skipped by Maggie LeMesurier, who played lead for the Muskie mixed curling rink that won NorWOSSA gold last season.
MacKenzie Taylor will be at third and Daffni Chabot at second, with the lead spot still to be determined as of press time.
Cassidy Romyn (Sioux Lookout) is the lone out-of-town rink competing in the junior women’s showdown, which will feature a double round-robin format starting Friday at 7:30 p.m.
The opening draw will see Beaudry face Romyn, who was beaten by a team skipped by Tomalty, and featuring Tory and Anika Beaudry and Slomke, in the Bantam girls’ Region 1 final earlier this year in Keewatin.
Payne will square off against LeMesurier in the other one.
Saturday’s draws will take place at 9:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m., and 7:30 p.m., with Sunday’s games set for at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Any tie-breakers, if needed, will take place Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
It’s a much simpler format for the junior men’s rinks skipped by Chris Silver (Fort Frances) and Zach Warkentin (Keewatin), who will battle in a best-of-three showdown.
Silver is back with his longtime high school and Bantam teammates Kurt McGuire at third and Davis Jackson at lead, along with Kenora’s Taylor Schotroff at second.
“Taylor played third for Isaiah Warkentin [Zach’s third] last year when Isaiah skipped,” noted Ron Silver, who will coach his son’s team at the regional playdowns.
“[But] he got tired of what was going on with that team because they didn’t get along,” he added.
“We pretty much picked the best player away from their team.”
Game 1 of the junior men’s series is set for Saturday at 2:30 p.m., with Game 2 going at 7:30 p.m.
If a third game is necessary, it will go Sunday at 9 a.m.
