Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Sports
Napanee’s Scott Chadwick’s Olympic bid got off to a strong start this weekend in Oakville as the Greg Balsdon rink went 4-1 and reached the quarter-finals at the Stu Sells Tankard World Curling Tour.
By virtue of their finish the Canadian rink, on which Chadwick is the lead, jumped from 19th to 18th in the world rankings.
A nice opening statement for a team that has visions of representing Canada at the 2018 games in Pyeongchang, Korea.
“It was a good start for us,” said Chadwick from Regina as his team prepared the first event of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season, which started Tuesday and runs through Sunday. “You never know what to expect the first weekend back out playing. Things went good. We as team clicked yet again, we’re all healthy, all looking strong from our offseason work.”
Each tournament they take part in this year will count towards their world ranking, earning more points the deeper they go. This week they’ll be among some of the top 15 teams in the world vying for a combined $200,000 purse.
The Balsdon team is looking to repeat as champions in Regina this week, having won the event last year.
“It’ll be fun trying to defend that title this week,” said Chadwick. “We’ve played around enough, we know all the teams. We know we can beat anyone in the world. It’s just a matter of getting the prep work in and making sure we’re ready to play and then competing for a couple of hours and hopefully we leave it all out on the ice and come away with a win at the end of the day.”
The tournament will also help them stay sharp as they gear up for their main goal, the Olympic pre-trials in Summerside, PEI, Nov. 6-12. They’ll be one of 12 Canadian rinks competing for one of two spots in the Olympic trials, which will be held at the Scotiabank Centre in Ottawa the first week of December. Win that and they punch their ticket to the Olympics in February.
“We’re hoping to make a good run at it and basically prepare for the next couple of months for that first week in November,” said Chadwick. “Hopefully we’re ready and we’ll perform for those six days.”
This will mark Chadwick’s third year on Balsdon’s team, which is rounded out by Don Bowser on third and Jonathan Beuk at second, with Mark Kean as alternate. The 26-year-old Chadwick got his start at the Napanee and District Curling Club, establishing himself as a standout player as a junior. He got his first experience playing at the national level when he was asked to sub in for Quebec’s Lewis South when Napanee hosted the 2012 Canadian Juniors. From there he went on to a successful OUA career, helping the Queen’s Golden Gaels to a national title and an appearance at the worlds. That’s where he began to catch the attention of some of Canada’s top curlers, earning an invite to his current squad. His team is partnered with L&A Mutual Insurance.