Local curling team finishes eighth at nationals

By Candice-Rose Gagnon

BELLEVILLE – A local junior curling team placed eighth overall at a national curling tournament last week.

Team Calwell represented Ontario at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Junior curling competition in Corner Brook, N.L., where it made it into the final round of round-robin play.

Loyalist students Mac and Morgan Calwell make up half of Team Calwell, which plays out of Belleville’s Quinte Curling Club. They started their journey to the national competition back in November when they won the zone championship. Later they won at regionals, and then the provincial title last month.

Last week they traveled to Corner Brook, where they played 12 games against teams from across the country.

The tournament featured two round robins, where the top four teams from the first round advanced to the final round.

The competition began Jan. 24, when the Calwells defeated Team Nunavut 16-3.

During first round-robin play, with two wins and four losses, Team Calwell was tied for fourth with two other teams: Team Newfoundland and Labrador, and Team Nova Scotia.

The team played in a tiebreaker against Nova Scotia and managed to make it into the playoff round.

In the men’s championship final, Team Ontario was knocked out with three losses against Alberta, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan. The Calwells finished in eighth overall, with two wins and eight losses.

Team Manitoba won the tournament on Feb. 1., taking the title for the second consecutive time. With the victory, Team Manitoba will go on to become Team Canada at the world junior championships in Estonia later this month.