Nunavut at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts

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The Canadian territory of Nunavut, which was created in 1999, was first given representation at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Canada's national women's curling championship in 2015, following a decision to allow each of Canada's three territories to have their own teams. The Nunavut Curling Association declined their spot,[1] but began competing in 2016.

2016[edit]

The territory had a playdown in 2016 featuring two teams from the Iqaluit Curling Club, which was won by the Geneva Chislett rink. They were supposed to play a team from Rankin Inlet for the territorial championship, but that team pulled out at the last minute.[2]

At the 2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the Chislett team played in a pre-qualifying event, where they scored an historic win in their first ever game, against British Columbia's Karla Thompson team.[3] The team lost their next two matches however, and did not qualify for the main tournament.

2017[edit]

Team Chislett again represented Nunavut at the 2017 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. The team lost all three of their games in the pre-qualifying tournament.

2018[edit]

After they had already qualified for the 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Team Chislett member Sadie Pinksen had to pullout due to a scheduling conflict, so the team asked St. Mary's, Ontario, resident Amie Shackleton to skip the team.[4] Shackleton had never played for the team before, and met them at a practice session on the Thursday before the Hearts began.[5] Curling Canada allows each team to have one player from outside their jurisdiction to play for the team.

The 2018 Scotties eliminated the controversial pre-qualifying event, instead grouped 16 teams into two pools of eight. The Shackleton-led rink lost all seven of their group games, and then lost the 15th place game to Team Yukon, skipped by Chelsea Duncan.

2019[edit]

The 2019 Nunavut playdowns for the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts consisted of three rinks, and was played in December 2018. The Iqaluit Curling Club's Jenine Bodner won the event, which also included the Robyn Mackey and Sadie Pinksen rinks.[6] The Bodner rink included recreational curler Jennifer Blaney from Ottawa as their fourth stone thrower, who joined the team for the season.[7] At the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the team won their first game against Quebec (skipped by Gabrielle Lavoie), but lost their remaining six matches, finishing seventh in their pool, ahead of Quebec.

2020[edit]

Only one team entered the playdowns for the 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, so no playdown was held.[8] Dundas, Ontario, curler (and 1997 Hearts runner-up) Lori Eddy skipped a team consisting of Sadie Pinksen, Alison Griffin and Kaitlin MacDonald at the 2020 Hearts. Eddy was approached by the team in June 2019 to see if she'd be interested.[9] The team improved upon their previous record, winning 2 of their 7 games, defeating Northern Ontario's Krista McCarville rink in a surprise victory,[10] and also Quebec.

2021[edit]

Dundas, Ontario's Lori Eddy and her rink of Pinksen, Griffin and MacDonald were the only teams to enter the 2021 Nunavut playdowns again. The 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts was expanded to 18 teams, adding two Wild Card teams, giving Nunavut an extra game. Unlike in 2020 they were unable to win any games, with the team going 0–8. They finished tied for last place, as Yukon which was playing in a different pool also finished 0–8.

2022[edit]

Team Nunavut at the 2022 Scotties Tournament of Hearts was skipped by Halifax, Nova Scotia, chiropractor Brigitte MacPhail, who joined the team following the advice of coach Donalda Mattie.[11] The team in 2022 also included Pinksen, MacDonald and Alison Taylor. Only Taylor was living in Nunavut at the time, as Pinksen was attending Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia and MacDonald was attending the University of Prince Edward Island. The Iqaluit Curling Club was closed for much of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nunavut and the local water crisis.[12] At the Hearts that year, the team once again went winless, finishing 0–8, tied with the Yukon which was playing in the other pool.

2023[edit]

Brigitte MacPhail defeated Angela Dale in the territorial championship, which was held in December 2022.[13][14] For the third straight year, the team did not win any games in Pool A at the Scotties, finishing 0–8, which was last among the 18 teams in the field.

2024[edit]

On January 8, 2024, Curling Canada announced that Nunavut withdrew from the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts as no teams registered for the territorial playdowns. The Nunavut Curling Association stated a smaller pool of competitive players and the early season closure of the Iqaluit Curling Club due to the filming of a new Netflix show at the club were factors into the decision.[15][16]

Summary of results[edit]

Year Team Club Record (placement)
2024 Declined Invite[15]
2023 Brigitte MacPhail, Sadie Pinksen, Kaitlin MacDonald, Alison Taylor Iqaluit 0–8 (18th of 18)
2022 Brigitte MacPhail, Sadie Pinksen, Kaitlin MacDonald, Alison Taylor Iqaluit 0–8 (T17th of 18)
2021 Lori Eddy, Sadie Pinksen, Alison Griffin, Kaitlin MacDonald[17] Iqaluit 0–8 (T17th of 18)
2020 Lori Eddy, Sadie Pinksen, Alison Griffin, Kaitlin MacDonald Iqaluit 2–5 (13th of 16)
2019 Jennifer Blaney, Alison Griffin, Jenine Bodner (Skip), Megan Ingram, Sadie Pinksen Iqaluit 1–6 (13th of 16)
2018 Amie Shackleton, Geneva Chislett, Christianne West, Denise Hutchings, Robyn Mackey Iqaluit 0–8 (16th of 16)
2017 Geneva Chislett, Denise Hutchings, Robyn Mackey, Jenine Bodner, Sadie Pinksen Iqaluit 0–3 (15th of 15)
2016 Geneva Chislett, Denise Hutchings, Robyn Mackey, Jenine Bodner, Sadie Pinksen Iqaluit 1–2 (15th of 15)

References[edit]

  1. ^ Cameron, Al (2015-01-26). "Star-studded field nearly complete for 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts - 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts". Curling.ca. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  2. ^ "Nunavut skip excited to make history at Scotties - TSN.ca". 18 February 2016.
  3. ^ "Scotties Tournament of Hearts: Nunavut wins territory's debut | CBC Sports".
  4. ^ "Shackleton off to Scotties tournament – The St. Marys Independent". stmarysindy.com. Archived from the original on 2018-10-14.
  5. ^ "Going in cold: Nunavut skip's first game with new teammates will come at Scotties | TheRecord.com". 23 January 2018.
  6. ^ "Nunavut's Bodner headed for 2019 Scotties – 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts". Archived from the original on 2018-12-30.
  7. ^ "Historic first for Nunavut at Scotties Tournament of Hearts | The Star". Toronto Star. 16 February 2019.
  8. ^ @LoriCEddy (December 9, 2019). "@snackage Our team has been training and working hard this fall in preparation for the playdowns. We didn't have a…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. ^ "Lori Eddy returns to Scotties for 1st time since dropping '97 final to Sandra Schmirler | CBC Sports".
  10. ^ "Nunavut wins 1st game at 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts | CBC News".
  11. ^ "It's bubble time for Nunavut at Scotties Tournament of Hearts". 27 January 2022.
  12. ^ "Nunavut curling team gearing up for Scotties Tournament of Hearts". 24 January 2022.
  13. ^ "2023 Scotties Tournament of hearts and Tim Hortons Brier Playdowns". TSN. TSN. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
  14. ^ "Women's Territorials 2022-2023". Nunavut Curling Association. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  15. ^ a b Strong, Gregory (January 8, 2024). "Nunavut won't send team to Canadian women's curling championship in February". CBC. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  16. ^ Pelletier, Jeff (January 10, 2024). "Curling ice melts as Iqaluit rink transforms into TV studio". Nunatsiaq News. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  17. ^ @Devin_Heroux (January 9, 2021). "Just receiving word Nunavut's Scotties team has been selected. LORI EDDY IS BACK! How much fun was this team at last year's Scotties! @LoriCEddy third Sadie Pinksen, second Alison Griffin and lead Kaitlin MacDonald to represent Nunavut in Calgary bubble. #cbccurl @CBCOlympics" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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