NEW LISKEARD – The Jordan Chandler rink, representing the Little Current Curling Club and Port Arthur Curling Club, will be competing this week at the Northern Ontario Men’s Curling Championships in New Liskeard.
Eight teams will vie for a spot at the 2020 Tim Horton’s Brier, to be held in March. The Northern Ontario Men’s Curling Championships at the Don Shepherdson Memorial will go from January 28 to February 2.
The No. 1-ranked Brad Jacobs rink will be looking for another Brier berth this week. The Jacobs rink enters this competition as the defending Northern champion and has won nine of the last 10 Northern championships, including the last five in a row. His rink has won a Canadian championship, a World Silver medal and an Olympic gold medal. The other members of Jacobs’ team include: Vice Marc Kennedy, Second E.J. Harnden and Lead Ryan Harnden. The coach is Rick Lang.
The second-ranked Sandy MacEwan rink will also be competing this week which includes Skip MacEwan, Vice Dustin Montpellier, Second Lee Toner and Lead Luc Ouiment. This rink calls the Curl Sudbury club home. The first ranked Jacobs’ team and the second-ranked MacEwan team automatically qualified for the playdowns.
West qualifiers include the Mike Badiuk-skipped rink from Geraldton which includes Vice Kristofer Leupen, Second Chris Briand, Lead Kurtis Byrd and Fifth Dylan Johnston. The other west region qualifier is the Chandler rink—an amalgamated team representing clubs from Little Current and Port Arthur—including Skip Jordan Chandler, Vice Trevor Bonot, Second Nicholas Bissonnette, Lead Kyle Chandler and Fifth Tom Cull.
East qualifiers are Skip Jeff Brown and his team from the North Bay Granite Curling Club. The other team members include: Vice Chris Chartrand, Second Chris Bowman and Lead Ben Alexander.
Charlie Robert is the skip of the team from the Community First Curling Centre in Sault Ste. Marie. The other team members include Vice Matt Hunt, Second Steve Meunier and Lead Josh Vanderburg.
Nick Lemieux is another skip hailing from the Community First Curling Centre in Sault Ste. Marie. The other team members include: Vice Jake Reid, Second Dan Lemieux, and Lead Andrew Berg.
The Ryan Sayer rink from New Liskeard is representing the host Horne Granite Curling Club and will be the local fan favourite. The other team members include: Third Graehem Sayer, Second Tyler Langlois and Lead Ryan Forget.
Teams will play each other once, making it a seven-game round-robin with the top three teams advancing to the weekend’s playoff round.
The Men’s winner will advance to the Canadian championships, the Tim Hortons Brier, to be held in Kingston February 29 to March 8.
The Women’s Northern Ontario Provincial Curling Championships are being held at the same time and at the same location in New Liskeard.
