Pundit (me) selects Cochrane and Rizzo as rinks to beat at provincial championships
Winners will advance to national bonspiels in Digby, Nova Scotia
By
Mark Schadenberg
Winning
an Ontario championship in curling at any level is a difficult task as you need
to win at the zone / district level and then regionals, and then defeat the best
from around the province in an 8-team round robin.
Both
the Ontario Curling Association senior (over 50) men’s and women’s
championships will take place in Woodstock, Feb. 17-21, and if you’ve followed
curling circles (pun intended) for as long as I have you will recognize many
names plying their trade on the Woodstock pebbled ice.
Bryan
Cochrane – from the Ottawa area – may be the team to beat as he won the Ontario
Tankard in 2003 with Bill Gamble, Ian McAulay and John Steski.
Bryan Cochrane
Cochrane
would then go 5-6 at The Brier representing Ontario in 2003 and has competed (a
rather astounding) more than 15 times at the provincial men’s championships.
Due to several operations on his vocal cords – you may recall – Cochrane often
uses a whistle to direct his sweepers.
The
men’s field in Woodstock includes a Cochrane team which went 3-0 in playdowns
in Napanee, along with Dave Collyer also advancing as the B-side winner there.
Cochrane, who is a retired high school principal from the Ottawa area,
dominated with scores of 9-4, 8-2 and finally 4-2 over Collyer in the A-final.
At
the 2013 Olympic last-chance qualifier bonspiel in Kitchener, Cochrane fielded
a rink of Chris Gardner, Mat Camm and Brad Kidd. Since we all know curling is a
small world, Camm was a member of Mark Kean’s (Innerkip / Woodstock) Ontario
championship rink of 2015 along with Scott Howard and David Mathers. The coach
/ alternate for Kean was now 58-year-old Bryan Cochrane, so the curling fans of
Woodstock will be cheering for Cochrane (likely) at the provincial over-50
event beginning Feb. 17.
There
is a graphic here noting the full filed of both the men’s and women’s fields
for the Ontario senior championships. I remember doing play-by-play at this
event a few years ago when it was in London – the level of play is still top
notch and you could make an analogy of the skills as comparing the PGA Tour to
the Senior Tour.
Peter
Mellor from the K-W Granite curling club won the 2014 provincial seniors event (Were
5-6 at national championships if my surfing and mouse clicking is correct) and
he has qualified for Woodstock with Jeff Thomson, Rob Saunders and Stuart
Anderson. His quartet in 2014 consisted of Thomson, Saunders and Steve Foster.
Therefore, Mellor – with five Tankard appearances must be considered a
contender at this OCA championship. According to an old Waterloo Region Record
story I read, Mellor has curled with Saunders since high school.
Guess
who Mellor beat in the 2014 Ontario finale? Answer: Bryan Cochrane
The
men’s division also includes Daryl Shane and Gary Grant as well-known skips
with Tankard appearances on their resume. As the schedule is already drawn up,
it’s interesting to note that Shane and Grant will meet at 7 p.m. on Wednesday
night to kick off the full round robin.
By
the way, and I know you’re curious about what happened to the 2015 Ontario
champs. Brian Lewis is a well known skip from the Ottawa district and his
teammates of Jeff McCrady, Mike Johansen and Grant Sinclair won in ’05, but
this year at the Renfrew regionals McCrady won his first match but was
eliminated with losses to Dave Collyer (He qualified for provincials) and
Howard Rajala.
WOMEN’S
TOURNAMENT
The
list of qualifiers in the women’s draw includes many recognizable names as well,
but my money (I don’t really bet on curling) will be on Jo-Ann Rizzo from
Brantford. My reasoning is that at the Ontario Scotties in Brampton this year,
Rizzo was third for the Sherry Middaugh foursome, which went 5-4 in the round
robin and missed the playoffs by one win. Rizzo has competed at the Ontario
women’s championships more than a dozen times.
Rizzo
has competed countless times at the women’s highest level of curling and will
be tough to beat in Woodstock. If the Gretzky clan is the ‘first family’ of
hockey in Brantford, the Rizzos are the ‘first couple’ of Brantford as Jo-Ann
and Nick Rizzo are previous Ontario mixed champs. Jo-Ann Rizzo was also a
member of the Sherry Middaugh team that lost in the Olympic qualifying (Roar Of
The Rings) final to Jennifer Jones leading up to the Sochi Games.
Rizzo’s
squad in Woodstock will include Kerry Lackey, Kristin Turcotte and Julie
McMullen. They went 3-0 in sweeping through the A-side of the regionals draw,
Jan 16-17 in St Thomas.
The
women’s competition includes two former champions in Dale Curtis and Judy
Oryniak, while skip Mary Chilvers tied for first in the round robin last year
in Glencoe at 5-2, but lost to Kathy Brown (the eventual champ) in the
semifinals.
Curtis
cruised through qualifications, sweeping the Region 3 bonspiel with wins of 10-5,
6-4 and 8-2.
Oryniak
is from the London area, so she, Rizzo and Cambridge's Curtis will have home advantage. The 6-4 win
was over Lori Thomson who would advance on the B-side with a 4-1 record. In
Region 4 this year, Oryniak would lose her second match to Nancy Harrison, but
rebounded in the B-final 6-4 over Harrison.
Judy Oryniak
WOODSTOCK
The
Woodstock Curling Club has twice hosted the men’s Ontario Tankard at Southwood Arena
at the community complex, but this double championship Feb 17-21 will be held
at the curling club itself on Beale Street, which was established in 1948.
Bob
Axon and Murray Coulter are the co-chairs for the 5-day event, so it will
certainly be well organized. Countless volunteers from the club and from
outside of the club have been quarantined to assist as hosts.
March
28 – April 2 is the destination for the winning teams in Woodstock – the venue
for the national seniors championship is Digby, Nova Scotia.
LINKS:
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Woodstock & Oxford County
Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative
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Royal LePage Triland Realty Brokerage
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
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Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . .
Destination
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