MANITOULIN – The newly formed Jordan Chandler rink had a very successful first event as a team, being the runner-up at the Goldline US Open of Curling-Contender Round held in Blaine, Minnesota recently.
However, things didn’t start out well for Mr. Chandler and his new rink, which includes his brother Kyle Chandler (of Sudbury) as lead, second Colin Koivula and third Trevor Bonot (the latter two both of Thunder Bay). “We started out by losing our first two games by a total score of about 17-4 before we got our legs under us from the 12-hour drive and being our first event as a team,” Jordan told the Recorder.
“Kyle and I have talked about playing on the same team and we were able to play together this year,” said Jordan. The two other members of the team are from Thunder Bay. Trevor Bonot has played in the mixed world curling championships and Colin Koivula is also very accomplished, having played in the Brier previously, he said.
“We grew up playing against these guys, so it’s good to be on the same team this year,” said Jordan. “A good friend of ours, Tom Cull, who played spare for us in Minnesota, is our coach, which is something that we needed.”
“It’s been several years since Jordan and I were on the same team, and we had just decided to join forces once again this year,” said Kyle. “I had taken several years off from curling then participated in the police curling (he has been a member of the Sudbury OPP TAC Unit for the past eight years) and our rink made it to the Nationals last year; and it just seemed to peak my interest again.”
“We did very well in Minnesota,” said Kyle. “We made it to the finals (losing). I think we just lost gas in the finals,” he said, pointing out the team had won five straight games before losing in the finals. This was a world curling tour-circuit event.
Jordan added, “all of this is only possible because of the fantastic support we receive from our team sponsors. We have a lot from Manitoulin and some from Thunder Bay as well.”
After dropping their first two games the Chandler rink won four straight games to advance to the semi-finals, which they won 5-4 over Todd Bird (of Ham Lake, Minnnesota). Unfortunately, Team Chandler lost in the final game against Scott Dunamm of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
