Last week, the curling team skipped by Trevor Bonot of Stratton announced a full slate of curling events the team will attend this year as they attempt to qualify for the Montana’s Brier in February and March of this year in Kelowna, B.C.
Skip Trevor Bonot says the team is hoping to build on last year’s performance which saw them finish just short of the playoffs at last year’s Canadian Men’s Curling Championship in Regina last year.
“We really wanted to take what we accomplished last year and grow from it,” Bonot said. “The goal this year is to make it back to the brier and we know how hard it is and we know that because we are defending champions we’re going to have a little target on our backs so we want to do everything we can to just be better little by little. So we figured we’re gonna play some more. We didn’t play as much last season as a unit.”
To that end, Bonot and Third Mike McCarville will be stepping back from their involvement in mixed curling this season. They have played mixed curling with Bonot’s sister Jackie McCormick at Third and Amanda Gates at Lead for the last three years.
“Mike and I are not playing mixed, trying to get to nationals this year because we want to focus on our men’s game so we’re doing every little bit that we can to be better and we’re looking forward to getting on the ice,” Bonot said.
They’re also working on being on the ice more this season.
“We’re playing a lot more, that’s the number one thing, I think we had four tour events and we’re up to nine this year,” Bonot said. “It’s literally just playing more so we can fine tune the little things that we need to do better as a unit. We had a great season last year and we’re very proud of it, but we know we can be better and we know we can be a little more consistent. So the goal is to use that on-ice time, playing high level teams to get better. We’re also going to be working with (coach) Al (Hackner) in town on ice and we’ve committed to a practice schedule and little things like if we end a game early on our league nights we’re going to stay and practice.”
On August 20 the team also posted a new logo to their Facebook page.
“We had a friend of mine from Sudbury that does graphic design that was kind enough to design a logo for us,” Bonot said. “We don’t want to be a brand, but we want to have people know that we are a team. We have some really cool sponsorship opportunities this year and we’re going to have that featured with them.”
The logo features a curling rock and a stripe in rainbow colours representing a tie into pride.
With their hopes of playing in more spiels, the team has also picked up more sponsors for the season, and they hope to use the new logo on some of the materials from sponsors.
“We have some really cool sponsorships and partnerships this year,” Bonot said. “We’re gonna have [the logo] featured with them. We’re working with (cooler and drinkware company) Chilly Moose. They sponsored the Brier last year and the Scotties and world championships with their drinkware. We really got to know them at the Brier and they’re partnering with us this year and it’s gonna be fun. We’re trying to incorporate our logo on some of the products that they’re gonna share with us,so it’s exciting.”
In addition to Chilly Moose Team Bonot has a big list of other sponsors, including his sister’s Frequency Hearing Clinic in Fort Frances, helping them get to more events this season with a list posted on their Facebook page.
Bonot says the support from back home is always felt and appreciated.
“Growing up back home I always had the support especially from my family and my stratton community just to play as much as I could,” Bonot said. “Everyone was happy to make sure that happened, always playing bonspiels and doing the fun things and getting on the ice as much as possible. Last year I could really feel it, we had so many messages while we were competing and people were happy to stay and watch us. I was home a few times this summer, running into people and talking about how much they enjoyed watching the Brier and rooting for us. It just means the world to know that people care enough to follow us and support our journey. Hopefully it’s not done yet.”
