Lena Chown (left) and Greg Howard (right) get ready to brush as Peter Van Strien (middle) throws a rock at the 2021 Canadian Mixed Curling Championships in Canmore, Alta. (Photo provided by Curling Canada/Ben Dreger)
Winless Nunavut swept away at Canadian mixed curling championship
Despite an 0-6 record, Nunavut’s ‘underdog’ team learned valuable lessons from tough opponents, says skip Peter Van Strien
Team Nunavut remains in positive spirits despite a winless performance in the round robin of the Canadian mixed curling championship in Canmore, Alta., this week.
The team, based at the Iqaluit Curling Club, conceded its first five games before finishing the opening round with an 8-4 loss to Manitoba in eight ends. In curling, it is common for teams losing by a large margin to concede a game before the eighth end as a move of respect to their opponents.
Despite finishing the 0-6 record, Peter Van Strien, the Nunavut team’s skip, says he’s proud of his team for showing up and competing against a pool of stronger and more experienced opponents.
“We know, going into this, that we are underdogs in all our games,” he said. “These teams, they’re so good, and I think considering where we are as a team, I’m pretty happy with how we competed.”
In recent years, Nunavut’s curling teams have not had much success in the mixed championship. The last time Nunavut won in the opening round was versus the Northwest Territories in the 2017 championship.
Van Strien says he feels the challenges his team faced throughout the tournament presented an opportunity for his teammates to improve their play and on-ice communication, which was beneficial for some of the less-experienced players.
“There’s certainly a learning curve that they’re getting from going to an event like this, and they’re doing very well,” he said.
The tournament is not over for Nunavut. The team is out of the playoff round, but they get two play three seeding round games versus Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and Yukon.
Van Strien says he’ll have a debrief with his teammates after the tournament. He says he hopes to play another mixed tournament with them in the future.
“I like the team, I like the chemistry,” he said.
Nunavut is set to hit the ice again for the Canadian Curling Club Championships in Ottawa, scheduled to take place from Nov. 28 to Dec. 4.
Van Strien says he’s looking forward to that tournament, where he will be competing with the men’s team.
“I like to take as many chances here as we can,” he said. “It’s great that there’s an opportunity to play in Nunavut, and to go to these national events is really awesome.”
This is an unnecessarily mean headline. Nunavut has always had an uphill battle at curling tournaments because we don’t have ice arenas year-round. It’s great that we had a team go, try their best, and represent good sportsmanship from our territory. Headlines like this are not going to encourage our athletes to compete on the national stage. Let’s be a bit more positive and compassionate about this.
Way to go Team Nunavut!
Please, a little compassion for the headline.
Sure our Team was not able to score a win, but it’s a national tourney. you don’t see the Jamaican Bobsled Team raked over the coals at home do you.
To our Team, it’s a valuable experience and one to be proud you took part.
I’ve been to a few Canadian nationals and have stayed away from curling since moving to Iqaluit for the fact we have such a limited playing and practice window. Muscle memory is one thing but without having the chance to practice hours and hours a week it’s very tough to play these southern clubs. I’m proud of our performers as mentally it’s tough being in their shoes. I miss playing and seeing my friends from other provinces but to go and play knowing I’m rusty isn’t something I want to do. Iqaluit has soon good coaches and players. Regardless of final record I’m proud of them this week and of future tournaments.