FORT FRANCES—It certainly wasn’t easy, but local curler Jordan Chandler and his rink have qualified for the men’s provincial championships.
At the Men’s West qualifiers to get to the provincials, held this past weekend in Fort Frances, the Chandler Rink was among five rinks in total taking part. “Every team participating is pretty good,” he told the Recorder. “We ended up tied for third and had to win our two tie-breaker games to qualify,” he said, noting that his rink played a total of six games against the five teams.
“We lost our first two games,” said Mr. Chandler. “But that seems to be what we do, we play better when our backs are against the wall.” His rink includes Matt Dumontelle, Sandy MacEwan and Lee Toner.
Mr. Chandler’s rink won their third game against a rink that finished third in the provincials last year. However, they lost their fourth game to end up with a record of one win and three losses, which put them into the tie-breaker.
“We tied for third place and had to win our two tie-breaker games to qualify for the provincials. After winning their first game in the tie-breaker, “in our final game we beat the Koivula Rink, which ended up third in the province last year,” said Mr. Chandler. “This was one team that we thought for sure would be qualifying
for the provincials.”
“It was wild,” stated Mr. Chandler, noting that his rink had made the long ride to Fort Frances and back to play in the qualifiers.
The Chandler Rink will now take part in the men’s provincials, (to qualify for the national Brier Championships), which will take place February 8 to 11 in Thunder Bay.
“It looks like the Northeast Town (council) is backing the Little Current Curling Club in trying to get to host the men’s provincials next year in Little Current. For our rink and others in the area it would be nice to have the provincials in Little Current rather than having to travel to Thunder Bay,” added Mr. Chandler.
