麻豆社区

Bob Smallwood is hoping the success he and his wife enjoyed at the Canadian Mixed Doubles Trials earlier this year will carry over into another strong performance at the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship in Ottawa later this week.

The 39-year-old skip will be calling the shots for Team Yukon starting tomorrow, when his rink begins play in the four-team double-knockout qualifying round. Only two teams from last year's bottom four finishers 鈥� Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Newfoundland/Labrador 鈥� will advance to the 12-team main draw.

The Yukon's first matchup will be Thursday at 2 p.m. versus Nunavut.

Last year's Yukon entry at mixed nationals, skipped by Steve Fecteau, finished 0-11 after qualifying for the main draw.

Last year, Ontario defeated Nova Scotia 10-3 in the final.

This year's team consists of Bob Smallwood, Jody Smallwood, Adam Pleasant and Tamar Vandenberghe.

The Smallwoods finished in the top-eight at the inaugural national mixed doubles trials in Leduc last March.

Smallwood said his goal for this year's entry is to not only qualify for the main draw, but then curl well enough to finish in the top-10, to prevent next year's Yukon entry from having to go through the same qualification process.

"The first goal is to qualify for the actual championship to be one of the 12 teams in the main draw,鈥� Smallwood told the Star last night. "After that, the goal is to bring the Yukon's standing above the qualification standard so next year's team doesn't have to do this.鈥�

The rink is hoping they are able to come together and go on a bit of a run after forming at the beginning of this season to play in Tuesday and Thursday night leagues at the Whitehorse Curling Club.

"If we put together a good week and throw some good rocks, and other teams have off weeks, we're going to win,鈥� Smallwood said. "We're really looking forward to getting going. At the mixed doubles, the format was a little different, but we did really well. I want to know what the calibre of curling is at today, since I haven't curled at this level since the mid-nineties.鈥�

Smallwood previously curled on the junior circuit as Robert Andrews, before representing the Atlin Curling Club at the Brier in 1994 and 1995.

In 1999, he changed his last name to Smallwood to honour his grandmother, Ellen Smallwood, whom he called his biggest fan.

He is hoping to draw on that high-level experience to keep the Yukon in the hunt at the mixed nationals.

"I've been competitive ever since I was the Grade 5 table tennis champion at my school, and I've been from one end of this country to the other curling,鈥� Smallwood said. "Other teams might be nervous, some of my team might be a little nervous, but I'll try to coach them through it.鈥�

Following this competition, Smallwood said he has his eyes set on another run at the Brier, and hopefully another mixed nationals competition.

The main draw for the national mixed curling championship gets underway Saturday at the Rideau Curling Club and will see three draws daily until Friday morning.

The final will take place Saturday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. ET. The winning team will earn two berths (two two-person teams into the Canadian Mixed Doubles Trials, slated for March 19 to 23 at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club.

The winner of that 32-team competition will go on to represent Canada at the World Mixed Doubles, April 22 to 29 in Dumfries, Scotland.