OUT OF THE HACK: Vachon happy to be back at Tournament of Hearts
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/01/2017 (3418 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
WINNIPEG — Janelle Vachon has been looking forward to making her return to the Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts for quite some time.
On Wednesday morning, the 24-year-old Brandonite did just that when she stepped on to the ice at the Eric Coy Arena for the opening draw of the provincial women’s curling championship.
She competed in three straight Scotties — 2013 with Stacey Fordyce in Stonewall, 2014 with Kelsey Russill in Virden and 2015 with Tina Kozak in Winkler — but wasn’t in Beausejour last year.
“We’ve been looking forward to it for a while,” Vachon said. “Obviously we were working hard towards it.”
By we, Vachon is referring to lead Sarah Neufeld, third Rhonda Varnes and skip Briane Meilleur from the Fort Rouge Curling Club in Winnipeg.
The young, up-and-coming team is seeded fourth at provincials and sits at 1-1 after Day 1 with a 9-4 win over Christine MacKay and an 8-6 loss to Cheryl Reed of the Brandon club.
Although Meilleur’s squad is based in Winnipeg, the chance to curl with a higher-level team with big-time aspirations was something Vachon couldn’t pass on.
“Last year I was kind of looking for a new team at the end of the year and then it was Rhonda who got a hold of me,” Vachon said. “I was definitely happy to get on a competitive team in the city. It’s almost where you have to go to get to the next level. You have a lot more opportunities for ice and coaches and everything in the city. Unfortunately, that’s how it is.”
Completing the final few classes of her environmental sciences degree at Brandon University, Vachon has made regularly drives to the provincial capital for practice sessions with her new team.
She was also in North Battleford, Sask., earlier this month for the team’s Grand Slam of Curling debut at the Canadian Open.
They knocked off Jennifer Jones 5-4 in their first game but dropped their next three — 6-5 to fellow Manitoba skip Michelle Englot, 11-5 to Ontario’s Allison Flaxey and 6-0 to Rachel Homan — in the triple-knockout event.
“It was pretty crazy to be up there with (so many big curling names),” Vachon said. “It was a little overwhelming at first, just a lot to take in and hard to believe we were actually there and we did really well to make it there our first year as a team.
“I thought we did really well for our first Slam, so next year we’ll hopefully make it a few more.”
They’re not exempt into either of the two women’s Grand Slam events for women remaining on the calendar this season but winning this week’s Scotties would most likely assure them of a spot in more Grand Slam fields next season.
But after her curling season with Meilleur ends, Vachon will gear up for the Western Canadian University Curling Championships with the BU Bobcats. The sport returned to the school last year and Vachon, who skips the team, led them to nationals.
Nonetheless, Vachon is hoping she, Meilleur, Varnes and Neufeld can make a splash against some of the top teams in Winnipeg.
“It’s nice because we have gotten to play them a couple of times this season and we’ve had good games against them,” she said. “It does give you confidence that you can be up there with the rest of them and play really well and have a chance.”
SUPER LEAGUES: Champions of the Forrest Hills Super League of Curling and UCT No. 448 Junior Super League will be crowned at the Brandon club on Sunday.
The juniors will finish off league play on Saturday morning before the quarter-finals take place at 1:30 p.m. The semifinals and final will be played at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., respectively.
The six men’s teams that qualified for the playoffs will be in action as well. Quarter-final winners from Wednesday’s games that ended after deadline — Jerry Chudley of Neepawa versus Brandon’s Shawn Taylor and Carberry’s Kelly Marnoch against Kelly McMechan of Deloraine — will face Terry McNamee and defending champion Steve Irwin in Sunday’s semifinals at 1 p.m. The semifinal winners will play in the final at 5 o’clock.
EXTRA ENDS: Riverview Curling Club is hosting its annual mixed bonspiel on Feb. 18 and 19. The cost is $180 per team and for details contact Ed Gilbert at 204-727-5202 or 204-729-7932, or Mark Malyon at 204-761-6470 … Hamiota Curling Club is hosting its men’s and senior mixed bonspiels from Feb. 17 to 19 and Feb. 20 to 21, respectively. For details on the men’s event, contact Tim Weber at 204-365-7539 or Neil Gregory at 204-764-0085. For details on the senior mixed bonspiel, contact Linda Wilson at 204-764-2642 or Lorraine Brooks at 204-764-287.