HIGH ACHIEVERS: Double gold-medallist Howard Rajala coaching Korea at world mixed doubles curling championship

By Martin Cleary

Rideau Curling Club skip Howard Rajala is experiencing a one-of-a-kind adventure to end his curling season.

One moment in mid-March, he’s at the Royal Kingston Curling Club directing his rink to the Ontario seniors curling championship and qualifying for the Canadian championship in December.

The next thing you know, he’s in the Saguenay and Lac-St-Jean region of Quebec last week to capture the 23rd Canadian men’s masters curling championship.

And if you want to meet Rajala today, you’ll have to travel to Ostersund, Sweden, where he’s coaching the Korean team at the 20-country world mixed doubles curling championship, which is scheduled to start Saturday.

Rajala, who skipped Canada to the gold medal at the world men’s senior curling championship in 2023, won the national masters title on Saturday, returned home to Ottawa and flew to Ostersund on Monday.

“It was the first time we played the masters championship,” said Rajala, whose rink was completed by Phil Daniel, who was substituting for third Rich Moffatt, Chris Fulton and Paul Madden.

The Canadian masters championships are for curlers 60 and older.

“We played seniors previously and still do,” Rajala, 62, added. “Instead of being the old guys in the championship, we were the young masters. We played well for our last few games. I thought we had a chance. We kept playing our games and plugging away.”

After losing its first two games, the Rajala rink certainly had to shift its ‘plugging away’ strategy in full gear. Rajala conceded its first two round-robin games to Jeff Thomas of Newfoundland-Labrador 7-3 and Ted Butler of Buckingham, PQ, 8-3.

“In the first game, the ice was very tricky in spots and the other team caught on to it quicker than us,” Rajala explained. “In the second game, we’ve played Ted Butler many times. We were good, but not sharp.”

But the Rajala rink kept grinding and won nine of its next 10 matches, including the final four in its round robin to finish third in its pool at 4-2 and three of four in the championship round. By finishing third in the championship pool at 7-3, Rajala qualified for the semifinals.

Untouchable in his two playoff games, Rajala defeated Butler 9-1 in the semifinals and made up for a loss to the Brian Humble rink in the championship round with an 8-5 victory over the first-place Saskatchewan rink. Butler, 8-4 overall, earned the bronze medal with an 8-2 decision over British Columbia’s Wes Craig.

In the gold-medal game, Rajala and Humble were deadlocked 4-4 after five ends of the eight-end final. After Humble went ahead 5-4 in the sixth end, Rajala scored three in the seventh for a 7-5 advantage. Humble had the hammer for the eighth end, but was unable to convert his last stone into a match-tying shot and force an extra end.

“It was fantastic,” Rajala said about winning his first Canadian men’s masters title. “We were thrilled.”

About a month before the national championships, Rajala prepared for the competition in Kingston by winning his fifth Ontario men’s senior championship since 2013. Moffatt played third for the Rajala rink, while Daniel was the alternate.

The Rajala rink finished third in the round robin with a pool record of 4-3 and was unbeatable in the playoffs.

Scoring one in the eighth end allowed Rajala to edge Noel Herron of Royal Kingston 5-4 in the tiebreaker. The Rajala rink scored all its points in three ends for a 7-5 semifinal win in seven ends over Adam Spencer of Guelph.

The championship game was decided in six ends as Rajala led 4-1 against Michael Fournier of Toronto High Park after three ends and stole his remaining four points over the next three ends in an 8-2 win.

As Ontario champion, the Rajala rink will represent the province at the 2024 Everest Canadian men’s senior championships in Vernon, B.C., Dec. 3-9.

After earning provincial and national championships in the space of a month, Rajala turned his thoughts to coaching and headed to the world mixed doubles championship in Ostersund.

Rajala and Yang Jaebong will co-coach the Korean team of Kim Jiyoon and Jeong Byeongjin for their nine pool games from Saturday through Thursday, April 25.

When the 2023 world men’s curling championship was held in Ottawa last April, the Korean team skipped by Jeong arrived early for several days of practice and acclimatization. The Jeong rink trained at the Rideau Curling Club and asked to play some exhibition games.

The Rajala rink stepped forward and split its two games with the Korean squad.

When the Rajala rink went to Gangneung, Korea, for the 2023 world men’s senior championships, he prepared for his first global experience by playing warm-up matches against the Jeong rink.

“I don’t play mixed doubles and it’s a different strategy,” said Rajala, who has quickly learned about the game as he joined Kim and Jeong for bonspiels and training sessions this season in Saskatchewan, Oakville and Halifax.