Northern Ontario curlers slide into action for regional playdowns this week

Curlers from across northern Ontario are competing this week for the chance to represent the region at the national curling championships.

The Northern Ontario Curling Association (NOCA) provincial playdowns run from Jan. 21 to 26 at the Port Arthur Curling Centre in Thunder Bay.

And there's a lot on the line.

The top women's team will represent northern Ontario at the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts from Feb. 14 to 23 at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay.

The winners of the men's side, meanwhile, will compete in the 2025 Montana's Brier from Feb. 28 to March 9 in Kelowna, B.C.

"It's a very exciting week, especially given the Scotties is going to be in Thunder Bay, as well," said Laura Forget, NOCA executive director and member of Team Mann. "We've got a a strong women's field of seven teams. We had eight, unfortunately lost a team due to some injuries.

"The men's field's got 13 men's team playing a triple knockout."

Thunder Bay is well represented on the women's side, with the Krista McCarville, Robyn Despins and Ashley Palmer teams all competing this week; all three curl out of the Fort William Curling Club.

The Kakabeka Falls Curling Club will be represented by the Clair Dubinsky team, which is top seed for the playdowns.

Rounding out the women's category are the Emma Artichuk (Northern Credit Union Curling Club), Laura Johnston (North Bay Granite Club) and Mann (McIntyre Curling Club) teams.

McCarville, seeded second this week, is the defending NOCA champion; the team finished the 2024 Scotties with a 4-4 record.

The winner of the 2025 Scotties will go on to compete in the Women's World Curling Championships in South Korea.

The men's division also boasts plenty of Thunder Bay curlers: the Dylan Johnston, Chris Silver, Frank Morissette and Zach Warkentin rinks all curl out of Fort William, as does defending NOCA champion Trevor Bonot.

The Port Arthur Curling Centre will be represented by the Gary Weiss and Brian Adams Jr. teams.

Also competing are:

• the Jeff Brown and Brad Minogue teams from the North Bay Granite Club.
• Dustin Kroeker of the Kenora Curling Club.
• Matthew Hunt of YNCU Curling Centre.
• John Epping and Sandy MacEwan of the Northern Credit Union Curling Club.

Bonot's team ended its run at the 2024 Brier with a 5-3 record.

"All experience is good experience, but it's different when we have to defend your title," Bonot said Monday. "We know coming in we're gonna have a bit more of a target than we typically would have had, probably.

"But you know, there's another team in the province that's had a really exceptional year, so they're going to be the favorites and we aren't," he said. "That's kind of nice."

Bonot's rink is seeded No. 2 for this week, behind Epping.

"The experience we gained from the Brier last year was really just, no matter who we play against, we can play with them and have a chance to win," Bonot said. "So that's the attitude we're taking into this this week."

Tickets for the playdowns are available at the door, or online at the Port Arthur Curling Centre's website or NOCA website.

A full playdown schedule is also available on the NOCA website.