Nunavut women’s curling team celebrates win in Ottawa
Territory’s teams faced uphill battles after shutdown of Iqaluit rink deprived them of practice time
From left: Alison Taylor, Denise Hutchings, Megan Ingram and Aloka Wijesooriya are seen in front of the scoreboard after defeating Manitoba at the Everest Curling Club Championship at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club. (Photo submitted by Alison Taylor)
When Denise Hutchings of Iqaluit left for Ottawa to play in the 2021 Everest Curling Club Championships, she had one goal for her team: to win at least one game. Or in her words, “get a W.” And that’s what they got.
Nunavut finished the tournament, which comes to an end on Saturday, with a record one win and five losses. Despite conceding their final game 15-1 to an Alberta team that made it through the opening round undefeated, Hutchings and her teammates were still in high spirits after their Wednesday night victory over Manitoba, with a final score of 8-4.
Hutchings says she’s proud of her team’s performance despite the many obstacles it faced, including last month’s Iqaluit Curling Club shutdown, which forced them off the ice for the weeks leading up to Ottawa. Their home club is being used as a water distribution point during the Nunavut capital’s water emergency, now in its eighth week.
“We had a great week,” Hutchings said. “Not a total writeoff, even though we didn’t have ice to practice on.”
Other team members also had positive takeaways from the tournament. Megan Ingram said she was happy to be reunited with her teammates, after moving to Whitehorse in the summer. Aloka Wijesooriya said she was proud to have had the opportunity to compete in a national curling event for the first time.
Alison Taylor said she was happy to have family and friends cheering them on from home and in the lounge of the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club.
“We were super lucky to have my parents come, and then I had some family and other friends come, so it was really good to have the support and to have them watching,” Taylor said.
The men’s team went 0-6 in this event. Their first game was a 7-4 loss to Prince Edward Island that came down to the final end. They conceded their remaining five games in less than eight ends.
Despite the challenges they faced leading up to the tournament, men’s skip Wade Kingdon says it’s always great to enjoy the camaraderie of Curling Canada events, which includes grabbing a beer with teammates and opponents before and after games.
“We made a lot of new friends, but also, we have some people we’ve encountered from the past, so it’s kind of like seeing family again,” he said.
The Curling Canada 2021 calendar is wrapping up soon. Next week, Hutchings is representing Nunavut at the 2021 Everest Canadian Seniors Curling Championship in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
If the water crisis response forces the Iqaluit Curling Club to remain shut down, Nunavut may host its Tim Hortons Brier playdowns in Ottawa at a date to be determined. The Brier is set to take place in March in Lethbridge, Alta.
Taylor says she’s looking forward to representing Nunavut at the 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, which is set to take place between Jan. 28 and Feb. 3 in Thunder Bay, Ont., where she and her team will once again have to navigate not having a practice surface back home.
“We got some obstacles with the club being closed up north and now the gym being closed,” she said. “I’m very much looking forward to it, this was great getting practice on southern ice.”
How can you play for team Nunavut if you live in the Yukon?
Good question, this seems like a loophole of some sort. It also seems like it shouldn’t really happen.
I wonder if the Nunavut Curling Association could give us an answer?
No residency rules in curling. You can live anywhere in Canada and represent whatever jurisdiction will let you play for them.
It happens all the time, check the rules. Rachel H. represents ON, now she resides in AB, there are many examples of this, you do not have to be a resident to respresemt a jurisdiction. Check Curling Canada residency.
I took your advice and checked the residency requirements at Curling Canada. This is what I found. To compete one must be:
a) A bona fide resident of the province/territory they intend to represent. (Nope)
b) Born in the province/territory in which they intend to represent (Nope again).
There were other exceptions around being a student, but it seems unlikely these apply.
Source here:
https://www.curling.ca/team-canada/canadian-team-ranking-system/residency-rules/residency-eligibility-rules/
All that aside, to cite the ‘rules’ is not really that compelling, even if they were aligned in your favour.
The larger question really seems to center on the ethics of a non-resident, also not born here, to represent us? What would you say is the rationale behind such a move?
Hey congratulations on the win ladies! I don’t care where you are born or grew up. Enjoy the game and don’t listen to the riff raff.
The only question is about residency, nothing else you listed.