The Humber women’s curling team successfully defended its championship title after fighting its way to success in the finals on Feb. 21.
“We have worked so hard for this and for the entire experience,” said Jessica Byers, who was named one of the All-Stars for the first-team. “It feels just like the weights have been lifted. So I feel super grateful.”
Humber’s curling teams began the three-day tournament on Feb. 18, and the women’s team played through to the finals.
In what was described to be tightly contested, the team faced the Niagara Knights in the gold medal match, defeating them with a score of 8-6. The team now has four provincial championships under its belt.
The team credits its key winning factor for their continuous practice, despite the pandemic shutting down most sports across the province.
“We’ve been working with the high performance center at Humber and athletic therapy,” Byers said. “We’ve been prepping ourselves off ice so that when we do get on, we can go as much as we can, despite being off the ice for a long period of time.”
Humber’s curling teams have been without real on-ice activity for nearly two years, since the start of the pandemic. Despite the challenges faced, the teams continued to adapt and practice where they could, keeping up their spirits along the way.
“I don’t think at any point we hit a low,” Byers said. “We always trusted each other, we just kept working towards our individual goals and our goals as a team.”
The team also has the tournament MVP in Meaghan Mallett, who’s performance landed her praise. Mallett said it feels good to have curling get such recognition.
“It’s really an honor,” Mallett said. “Our school is so supportive of our sport, which in other situations, surely isn’t necessarily treated the same as other sports. So, it’s really cool to be recognized at the same level as other athletes and other sports.”
Mallett said the bonds shared by the team are unique, and that such a small team needs the closest connection possible. Along with attending practice, the team tries to hang out and do things together to build spirit.
In the off season, the team is going to focus on strengthening the bond between each other both on and off the ice.
“We’re gonna try and practice as much as we can,” Mallett said. “But we’re really going to work on our off-ice dynamics going forward, such as doing stuff in the summer to keep our relationship really strong.”
These sentiments were echoed by head coach Sean Turriff, who praised the team’s performance and strong bonding as significant factors in the win.
“The women came together as a unit really well,” Turriff said. “They all trust each other. And they all work well together. And they all communicate well.”
Turriff described the team as hard working, and said the constant practice and physical training gave them an edge over the competition. The time spent off the ice was maximized to build up their physical strength, which reflected in their performance.
“Just from a physical standpoint, we were in great shape,” Turriff said. “By the end of the tournament, they looked as fresh as can be to compete. Not all teams are maybe as conditioned as we were. So that was another big strength of ours.”
Since Turriff took over as head coach in 2019, he said he hasn’t had to make many changes to the team, as they already have a strong form and impressive record. The main change was moving their practice location to the Dixie Curling Club from the Western Golf and Country Club.
“We had a good base that Cindy Bishop, the previous coach, had set up,” Turriff said. “But moving to the Dixie Curling Club has been a really positive change for us, they have been really welcoming and really supportive, just to the extent that the banners we won in 2019, they’re proud to hang those on the back wall.”
The season ends for them despite their success in the provincial finals. The national competition was canceled due to the pandemic, and now the team is focused on next year.
“We’re losing some of our players, so it’s a bit of rebuilding there, but we’re in high spirits,” Turriff said. “If there’s anything good to come out of this pandemic, it’s a sort of renewed enthusiasm and fire that they’ve got to play for, and represent, the school.”