COPPER CLIFF—Chris Gordon, a Haweater who now lives in Sudbury, has qualified for the 2018 senior men’s provincial curling championships.
“Yes, I’m originally from the Island. I was born in Mindemoya and grew up in Little Current,” Mr. Gordon told the Recorder on Monday, pointing out he is the son of Bruce and Helen Gordon of Little Current. “I worked for INCO (now Vale) until I recently retired.”
Mr. Gordon explained he took up the sport of curling at the age of 10 and curled on local high school teams. He was part of the Jason Strelezki-skipped team that captured the Northern Ontario banner in the 2013 Dominion Club championships, earning a trip to nationals in Thunder Bay.
“We made it to the provincials as juniors and then later I dropped out of curling for a short time,” said Mr. Gordon.
“Our rink is in the senior provincials,” said Mr. Gordon. He explained his rink, which includes the Copper Cliff Curling Club trio of Alastair Giles, Tim Lloyd and Craig Ramsay, qualified for the provincials in North Bay last month, with a record of four wins and one loss. The rink was formed just over a year ago and “we qualified and made the provincials last year in Kenora.”
“We curl out of the Copper Cliff (curling) club,” said Mr. Gordon. “Last year in the provincials we ended up in the middle of the pack overall; we didn’t make the playoffs. Our goal this year is to make the top three and make the playoffs.”
When asked about the field for the senior provincials, Mr. Gordon said it’s an open field, and that at least five teams could win. One of the teams at provincials is the Robbie Gordon (who has family connections to Manitoulin Island).
“Robbie’s rink is the team to beat in this event,” stated Mr. Gordon, who is related to Robbie. “Robbie’s father and my father were cousins, so we are second cousins. His rink has won this event two or three years in a row.”
Chris Gordon pointed out he is not the only one in the family that will be playing in upcoming championship events. “My son Matthew and his rink from Copper Cliff Curling Club just qualified this past weekend to play in the 2018 Travelers Northern Ontario Men’s Curling Championship (taking place in Little Current February 7-11) to play teams like the Brad Jacobs rink,” said Mr. Gordon. “We will definitely be over there to watch that.”
Matt Gordon is lead on the rink skipped by Dustin Montpellier, along with vice Eric Gelinas, second Artie Trudel, and fifth Chris Glibota.
“Matthew was born in London, Ontario, but grew up in Sudbury,” said Mr. Gordon. “And he’s on the Island all the time; he has property over there (Manitoulin).”
