Team Ursel competes at National Curling Championship

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Published on Thursday, March 30, 2017

By Eoin Devereux

The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

Although the curling season didn’t end as Terry Ursel and her team would have wanted, it’ll likely still be looked at as one to remember. The team, based out of the Arden/Landsdowne Curling Club, recently competed at the Senior Women’s National Championships in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Ursel, along with third Gwen Wooley, second Tracy Ionia, lead Brenda Walker and coach John Csversko, were representing Manitoba at this high level competition.

The Ursel rink had a phenomenal start to the round robin with a dominant 10-1 win over the Northwest Territories in their opening contest on Monday, Mar. 20. They’d follow that up with a 6-3 decision over Quebec to close out the first day of competition with a 2-0 record.

Returning to the ice on Mar. 21, Manitoba met a much tougher challenge and fell to Northern Ontario 5-4. Team Ursel quickly put that disappointment behind them and bounced back with a 5-4 victory over Alberta. 

Manitoba picked up two more wins on the final day of the round robin, including an 8-6 triumph over the eventual Canadian senior women’s winner, Sherry Anderson of Saskatchewan. That would leave Ursel with a 5-1 record heading into the championship round.

Ursel’s first game in the championship pool was an impressive 7-3 decision over New Brunswick. Unfortunately, Team Ursel’s run of success would come to an end, as they were defeated by Nova Scotia, Ontario and British Columbia in their next three games. Those losses landed the team a seventh place finish in the championship pool, just out of the final playoff round.

In the playoffs, Saskatchewan defeated Ontario in the gold medal game 7-3, while British Columbia doubled up Alberta in the bronze medal matchup 6-3.