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Skip Janelle Schwindt (formerly Vachon) watches her sweepers guide a rock into the house during junior play last season. (FILE PHOTO)
Janelle Schwindt’s curling team won’t just have a different overall look as it tries to defend its UCT Junior Super League title this season, it may have a different lineup from week to week.
Schwindt’s third Kaylee McNamee has left the team to form her own. That caused Schwindt, who was known as Vachon before getting married, to move Kylee Calvert up to third and recruit Dori-Anne Vince as the squad’s new lead. However, Calvert may be in the house more than Schwindt during the super league games — which start Sunday at the Brandon Curling Club — since Schwindt also has commitments to curl with Stacey Fordyce’s women’s team at bonspiels.
The 20-year-old Oak Lake native hates to leave her junior team for some of its games, but she knows it’s for the best.
"It’s kind of hard because I like skipping my team and I’ve been curling with the other two girls for a long time now," said Schwindt, who graduates from the junior ranks after this season. "It’s tough, but I like the fact that I’m getting Kylee into it so she can continue on next year."
The junior super league has expanded from 14 to 16 teams from southwest Manitoba and southeast Saskatchewan for this season and has changed from playing 10-end games to eight. It will also run into February instead of ending at Christmas. The goal of the league is to give junior teams competition at their own level as they prepare for provincial playdowns.
Schwindt has a different view of it for her team. While she wants to get back to provincials, she also knows this season is important to build the team for next when she won’t be there and Calvert will be the full-time skip.
"This is more of a learning year for this team, just getting some practice with the two younger players," she said. "It’s more of looking toward next year for them, I think."
MCT: Brandon teams skipped by Fordyce and Quinn Roberts, Carberry’s Tina Kozak, Killarney’s Deb Collyer and Plumas’ Terry Ursel will all play in the women’s King Spud Classic at Carberry this weekend. Dauphin will also be represented by some players on Amanda Tymchuk’s Winnipeg-based foursome. The 10-team event starts Friday at 6 p.m., with the final set for Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
WCT: Brandon’s Rob Fowler as well as former Brandonites Mike McEwen and William Lyburn will be in Brooks, Alta., this weekend for the Cactus Pheasant Classic, which has a $70,000 purse. Kevin Koe’s team, which includes former Brandonite Nolan Thiessen at lead, will also be there.
BERTH BONSPIELS: Brandon’s Joyce McDougall and Lois Fowler, as well as Hamiota’s Sandra Cowling, are in the field competing for a provincial championship berth at the Lloyd Gunnlaugson Memorial Senior Women’s Bonspiel in Winnipeg. The local teams start today, with the event wrapping up on Sunday.
Meanwhile, two berths at the Safeway Championship are up for grabs at a men’s bonspiel at Gimli from Friday through Monday. In the running are Neepawa’s Jerry Chudley, Gladstone’s Geoff Trimble, Virden’s Cory Zdan, Carberry’s Kelly Marnoch and Rob Van Kommer, and Dauphin’s Mark Hadway and Greg Todoruk. Brandonite Scott Ramsay, who curls out of Winnipeg, is also playing in the bonspiel.
EXTRA ENDS: The Turtle Mountain Super League starts tonight in Killarney … CurlManitoba’s Road Show — which features training sessions with Reid Carruthers and Kaitlyn Lawes — has stops in Hamiota on Monday and in Minnedosa on Tuesday … The Brandon Curling Club will host a reception in the upstairs lounge on Nov. 6 for the Steve Irwin team that’s going to the Dominion club national championship in Scarborough, Ont. The event starts at 8 p.m., featuring an auction, food and a cash bar … A steak/chicken dinner is being held on Nov. 9 at the Canad Inns Road House to raise funds to help the Brandon Curling Club host January’s provincial junior men’s and women’s provincial championships. Tickets are $20 and are available at the club or by contacting Sharon Shannon at 204-729-9009 or Barry Rabe at 204-725-8830 … The Riverview Curling Club is taking registrations for its fall bonspiel, which will run from Nov. 16-18. The first 32 paid entries will be accepted. Contact Chris Church at 204-728-5927 or Colleen Gillie at 204-728-1181.
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition October 25, 2012
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