Lawes adds chapter to local curling lore

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/02/2009 (6390 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jeff Stoughton never did it. Neither did Kerry Burtnyk or Vic Peters. Same goes for Jennifer Jones and Connie Laliberte.

None of those great Manitoba curling skips have ever done what Kaitlyn Lawes did at James A. Richardson International Airport last night — stepped off a plane in Winnipeg having successfully defended a Canadian curling championship.

Indeed, only four skips in the long and glorious curling history of this province — Gordon Hudson (men’s), Don Duguid (men’s), Lloyd Gunnlaugson (seniors) and Jim Ursel (seniors) — have ever accomplished that very rarest of feats in Canadian curling — win and win again the next year.

And so, by winning her second straight Canadian junior women’s title on Sunday in Salmon Arm, B.C., Lawes now stands alone as the only female skip from this province to repeat as Canadian champion.

And so you could excuse Lawes — and her third Jenna Loder, who was also on last year’s national junior champion — if they were still breathing the thin air of lofty heights, even 20 minutes after touching down in Winnipeg Monday night.

“It’s phenomenal, we’re so happy,” said Lawes. “This one’s pretty satisfying. It’s such a great feeling.”

Lawes said she was particularly proud of how her team had to battle its way back through the last few games of the round-robin and then the semifinal just to earn the right to play Ontario in the final.

“We rallied off quite a few wins at the end and were able to persevere when things maybe weren’t looking so good for us. We came on strong and won the games we really needed to win. We’re fighters.”

Loder offered a similar assessment.

“It was such a grind. We battled so hard throughout the week. There was ups and there was downs. We knew it was our last year and so we went out there and played our best.

“You couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Lawes, Loder and second Laryssa Grenkow are all 20 and will no longer be eligible for junior curling next season.

Only lead Breanne Meakin, daughter of former Kerry Burtnyk second Rob Meakin, will remain in junior next year.

The victory was particularly satisfying for Grenkow. Grenkow only joined Lawes this season, but she previously lost two Canadian finals as second for former three-time Manitoba champion Calleen Neufeld.

“Amazing,” gushed Grenkow. “Finally we get a win… It was relief and excitement and every feeling wrapped into one.”

Unlike the Lawes foursome, all four members of the other Manitoba team at the Canadian Juniors — Pembina’s Sam Good — will be back in juniors next year.

The Good team finished 6-6 in B.C., but Manitoba third Taylor McIntyre was named to the all-star team and Good said the team came away feeling pretty good about their chances next year.

“I think we know now that we can compete with every team there,” Good said last night.

The Lawes foursome will now turn their attention to Vancouver next month, where they will represent Canada at the World Juniors in what is a test event for the new Olympic curling venue.

The Lawes team settled for bronze at last year’s worlds in Sweden, but Loder said the team has some advantages this year. “It’s going to be great in our own country and to go out there and have our own fans and our own ice at the Olympic venue. It will be lots of fun.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca