Fort Rouge’s Ackland wins provincial junior crown
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This article was published 18/01/2016 (3539 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The pieces of have come together seamlessly for Abby Ackland and her Fort Rouge team.
The Ackland rink won the Manitoba Canola Growers provincial Junior Women’s Curling Championship on Jan. 10 after a hard-fought tournament. The team defeated the previously undefeated Laura Burtnyk rink (Assiniboine Memorial) 7-5 in the final. Ackland’s team will go on to represent Manitoba at nationals in Stratford, Ont. this week.
“It feels amazing and it’s really indescribable. It’s an amazing experience,” Ackland, 21, said of the win. “Three of us have been (to nationals) already so we know how much it means to win and represent Manitoba.”
Coach Jack Gordon said the tournament hosted by Rivers Curling Club and held at the Riverdale Community Centre Arena in Rivers, Man. was by no means an easy go.
“It was pretty tight throughout the whole week. It was never too relaxing but the girls kept fighting through,” Gordon said. “I think the thing that stood out was how many good teams there are in the province and you really couldn’t take a game off.”
In the final match against Burtnyk, Ackland controlled the board for most of the game but a couple missed shots gave Burtnyk a chance at a comeback in the last end.
“So there was two in the house and one was open, so I ended up hitting the open one,” Ackland recalled. “There were three rocks left that Laura Burtnyk had and she drew a very nice draw, it was perfectly buried, maybe an eighth of a rock showing, so not really worth going for and risk wracking on the guard, so we opted for the angle raise runback to try to eliminate one of their rocks,” she said.
“We knew that was what we wanted to do, went down, and made it.”
Prior to the provincials, the team had only played five events together. In fact, the Ackland rink, composed of lead Sara Oliver, second Melissa Gordon, and third Robyn Njegovan, came together in serendipitous fashion.
Gordon and Njegovan both played on last year’s provincial championship team with skip Beth Peterson. While Peterson and former lead Breanne Yozenko aged out of the junior age group, a change in Curl Canada’s age requirements meant Gordon and Njegovan had one more season of eligibility. Jack Gordon said the girls decided to put together a junior team rather late in the day.
“They kind of hummed and hawed when they found that out,” he said. “Other teams had pretty much been formed so they made a couple inquiries, and most of the top teams had already been formed for the year, so they were left on the sidelines a little bit.”
Gordon and Njegovan approached Ackland about skipping a team. She had taken the previous year off to focus on studying to become a paramedic and was hesitant about playing. After mulling it over, she agreed and the team brought on Oliver at lead.
“We all just fit super well,” Ackland said. “Robyn and I, my third, we get along very well and we both have a very relaxed attitude. Melissa gets along wonderfully with Sara. They have very similar personalities and I think they moulded well, which is awesome.”
That good fit and open communication among the players has been a huge part of the team’s success so far.
“I knew all four of them were really good players,” Gordon said. “I knew they could make all the shots that were necessary, but it’s not just a matter of throwing good shots. You have to gel as a team and there are lots of intricacies in the game of curling that comes with time.”
Ackland said she feels good going into nationals, especially having played on arena ice in Rivers, and the team is hoping to come home with gold.
“I think we have a really strong team and I think that at the end of the day we all know we support each other and we’re going to have fun and be competitive,” she said.