MANITOULIN—Tracy Auld, a new Manitoulin Island resident, is a member of a newly formed curling rink that had a had a great run at the Northern Ontario women’s provincial championships held this past weekend in Nipigon.
Ms. Auld’s rink made it to the finals of the event, very narrowly being defeated.
The final game “was very close. We were up by one going into the last end,” said Ms. Auld, who is second on the rink skipped by Jenna Enge that includes Amanda Gates as lead and Oye-Sem Won Briand as third. The Enge rink is affiliated with Idylwylde Golf and Country Club in Sudbury and Port Arthur Curling Club in Thunder Bay.
“We took one point in the ninth end to take the lead, and they (Team K. McCarville) garnered two in the 10th to win,” said Ms. Auld. “We’re a new team. Jenna and Amanda played at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts (national championship) last year with the Fleury rink of Sudbury.”
“We had a record of three wins and three losses after the round-robin,” continued Ms. Auld. We played a tie-breaker with Team Brunton—winning to make it to the championship final.
Ms. Auld is the fiancée of Jordan Chandler, another Island curler who didn’t fare quite as well at the Men’s Northern Ontario Provincial Championship also held in Nipigon this past weekend. In four of the past five years, his rink has ranked in the top four. This year, they ended up tied for sixth place out of eight teams. His rink includes Luc Quimet, lead, Lee Toner, second and Sandy MacEwan, third.
“I thought we had a good chance to make the playoffs, and potentially win, but we had a bad week,” said Mr. Chandler.
“It just wasn’t great conditions for us. There was bad ice and a few other factors, but we just didn’t adjust well to it,” he said, nothing that his teammates had better games throughout the tournament.
