Rookie skip wins opener!

Northern Ontario first-timer beats home-province hopefuls in national debut

It’s a rare competitor who competes in a world championship prior to competing at a national championship.

But that’s the situation Lori Hoppe found herself in Sunday afternoon at Curl Moncton in the opening draw of the 2024 Everest Canadian Senior Curling Championships.

Skipping the Northern Ontario team hailing from the Kenora Curling Club, Hoppe, after years of knocking at the door, was putting on that spectacular Northern Ontario Fear the Moose uniform for the first time in her career.

And she did it in style — Hoppe, accompanied by vice-skip Shannon Brown, second Lisa Penner and lead Jacqueline Ortlieb claimed an 11-5 win over New Brunswick’s Team Shelly Graham (Fredericton).

“Oh, that means a lot,” said Hoppe, the Manager, Laboratory Services at Lake of the Woods District Hospital. “Half our team is brand new to the seniors, and so this was just amazing to be able to come and be able to do. And we got a W, and we’re very happy with that.”

By her estimate, Hoppe had curled in seven previous Northern Ontario championships at various levels before finally winning her first Northern Ontario title in March on home ice in Kenora to earn the trip to Moncton. 

“It was amazing,” recalled Hoppe. “Surreal, almost. My third and I, we’ve tried in many provincials, so when we got our jackets and put them on, it was like, wow! It was pretty cool. There were few tears, yeah. We’re still in awe of being here.”

That said, it’s not the first time Hoppe has had to perform under pressure against the home team in a major event. In 2023, Hoppe, an accomplished bagpiper, was a member of the St. Andrew’s Pipe Band based out of Winnipeg that competed in the World Pipe Band Championships — in Scotland, no less (CLICK HERE to see video of their performance). 

“We were supposed to go in 2020, but COVID hit, so we practised by Zoom for the next two years,” said Hoppe. “So then when we were able to go in last year, it was just amazing.

“We knew going in, we’re going into Scotland against the Scottish, and we’re playing bagpipes in their country, right? The goal was to play a clean performance. And we walked out of there pretty happy with the way our band played.”

Not unlike the way she felt after Sunday’s win.

In other Draw 1 women’s games, Alberta’s Team Atina Ford Johnston (Okotoks/Calgary/Sherwood Park) scored two in the eighth end for a 7-5 win over B.C.’s Team Diane Gushulak (Kelowna) in a rematch of the bronze-medal match in 2023, in which Team Gushulak prevailed; Yukon’s Team Rhonda Horte (Whitehorse) toppled Nunavut’s Team Geneva Chislett (Iqaluit) 10-4; and Saskatchewan’s Team Tracy Streifel (Saskatoon) defeated Newfoundland/Labrador’s Team Wendy Dunne (Labrador City) 7-4.

In Sunday’s night draw, Ontario’s Team Jo-Ann Rizzo (Mississauga) beat Prince Edward Island’s Team Shelly Bradley (Cornwall) 6-2; and Nova Scotia’s Team Theresa Breen (Halifax) turned back Manitoba’s Team Kathy Isaac (Hamiota) 5-2.

In men’s opening-round games, reigning Canadian and world senior champs Team Paul Flemming from Nova Scotia (Halifax) bowed 7-5 to Saskatchewan’s Team Randy Bryden (Regina); B.C.’s Team Neil Dangerfield (Victoria) rolled to a 10-2 win over Glen Hudy’s Northwest Territories team from Yellowknife; and Quebec’s Team Robert Desjardins (Chicoutimi/Riverbend) dispatched Nunavut’s Team Peter Mackey (Iqaluit) 7-2.

In the late draw, Alberta’s James Pahl (Sherwood Park) thumped Northern Ontario’s Team Ron Rosengren (Thunder Bay) 10-3; Newfoundland/Labrador’s Team Keith Ryan (Labrador City) was an 8-3 winner over the Yukon’s Terry Miller (Whitehorse); and Prince Edward Island’s Team Eddie MacKenzie (Cornwall) needed an extra end to beat 2022 Canadian and 2023 World senior men’s champs Team Howard Rajala of Ontario (Ottawa) 5-4.

Action resumes at the 2024 Everest Canadian Senior Championships on Monday with draws at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. (all times Atlantic).

Fourteen men’s and 14 women’s teams (representing the 10 provinces plus Northern Ontario, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon) will compete and have been seeded into two pools per gender, playing a round robin within their pool through Wednesday.

The top four in each pool then advance to the Championship Pool for crossover games against teams from the other pool, while the remaining teams go to the Seeding Pool. 

After the Championship Pool round robin wraps up on Friday, the playoffs will start Saturday, at 8:30 a.m. with the semifinals, pairing the first-seeded team against the fourth-seeded team and the second- and third-ranked teams in the second semifinal. 

The winners advance to their respective gold-medal final, while the losers will play for bronze. The men’s medal games will be at 12:30 p.m. and the women’s medal games commence at 3:30 p.m.

Fans can follow the action live with selected games available on Curling Canada’s YouTube channel and TSN+. 

For live scores and standings, visit the scoreboard page.

For team lineups, draw times, and other event details, visit the event website.

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2024seniors/nouvelles/?lang=fr