HIGH ACHIEVERS WEEKEND WRAP: Hailey Armstrong alters course, wins her first Ontario women’s curling championship

By Martin Cleary

Curling skip Hailey Armstrong of Carleton Place originally decided to take a different approach for the 2025-26 competitive women’s season.

“I thought about playing less events,” she offered in a phone interview on Tuesday.

As good as the previous three seasons were for Armstrong and her various rinks from Toronto, Niagara Falls and Kitchener-Waterloo, the Ontario women’s championship always left them empty as Danielle Inglis of the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club represented the province at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts national championships in 2025 and 2024, and Rachel Homan of the Ottawa Curling Club carried that honour in 2023.

Armstrong reached the 2025 provincial playoffs undefeated, after seven consecutive preliminary wins. But her rink lost her Page playoff match 9-5 to Inglis, who scored five in the seventh end, and then fell in the semifinals 6-3 to Chelsea Brandwood of Niagara Falls. So close to a Scotties berth, especially after not making the Ontario playoffs in 2023 and 2022.

But then Armstrong received a phone call after the 2024-25 season.

Grace Lloyd of Brantford, Michaela Robert of Markham and Rachel Steele of Hamilton were without a skip and asked Armstrong to lead them into the 2025-26 season.

Armstrong thought about it, but couldn’t say no for another shot at competing at the coveted Scotties championship, which would be her first as a skip. Armstrong played third for Quebec skip Laurie St-Georges during the COVID-19 tainted 2021 and 2022 nationals.

“I knew these girls wanted to play quite a few events,” Armstrong explained. “It’s hard. You want to make sure everyone is on the same page. If you are going to curl and go for the Scotties, you need to put in all the hard work.

“When they called, I knew as soon as they asked me I was not going to pass it up. They are great and awesome girls and are supportive.”

Armstrong made the right decision as she led her Whitby Curling Club team through a hard-fought, week-long battle to win her first Ontario women’s curling title in Elmira with an overall 7-2 record.

After absorbing her only two losses to two-time defending champion Inglis in bracket play, Armstrong scored big in the middle ends to dethrone Inglis 10-3 in the championship final, which was shortened to eight ends instead of 10.

“It’s so amazing. My teammates were in tears and I shouted, ‘We’re going to the Scotties,’” recounted Armstrong, who was tired Monday night and missed her regular curling session at the North Grenville Curling Club as well as a balloon bouquet from her peers.

In the final, Armstrong stole two in the fourth end for a 3-1 advantage and took full control of the championship game, when her rink stole five in the fifth end for an 8-1 lead as Inglis’ two shots didn’t meet expectations. Armstrong added another two points in the eighth end before the players shook hands.

“The ice was tricky for the final with maybe more fans in the arena,” Armstrong explained. “After we scored five, we all said it’s not over till we shake hands. We didn’t think that the score was 8-1 and kept playing.

“We worked with a sports psychologist all season and we put the blinders on after that. We must stay in the moment to keep grinding.”

Grinding is how Armstong became the last rink standing. The provincials followed a triple-knockout format.

Armstong dropped her opening match in the A event 7-4 to Inglis. In the B event, she defeated Jenny Madden of Ottawa 9-3 in nine ends and Ottawa’s Emma Artichuk of Waterloo 6-5 by scoring one in the 10th end before losing to Inglis again 6-5.

In the C event and one loss from elimination, Armstrong defeated Hollie Duncan of Woodstock 6-5 by stealing one in the 10th and Breanna Rozon of Vaughan 4-3 by scoring one in the 10th.

Armstrong counted three in the third end and two in the fifth to turn back Carly Howard of Toronto 7-4 in their Page playoff match. In the semifinals, Armstrong defeated Chelsea Principi of Niagara Falls 8-7 to advance to her first Ontario final.

“The C-side is called the grind because you have no more lives left,” Armstrong said. “We weren’t thinking it was the C semifinals and C final. We put our work boots on and got to it. I wanted to have the last stone in my hand at the end and I made it. That strategy worked and we went to the (playoffs).

“I liked going through the C-side. We didn’t have to sit out. We could play and we knew the ice (conditions).”

Armstrong’s rink will be the host team at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Jan. 23 to Feb. 1 at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga.

Tillsonburg Curling Club’s Jayden King, who has connections to Ottawa, won the Ontario men’s curling championship 9-6 over Sam Mooibroek of Whitby. The other members of King’s rink were Dylan Niepage, Owen Henry and Victor Pietrangelo.

King, who represented the R.C.M.P. Curling Club when his rink won the 2023 Ontario U21 championship at the R.A. Curling Centre of Excellence, will represent Ontario at the Montana’s Brier Feb. 27 to March 8 in St. John’s, NL.

His rink wasted little time qualifying for the playoffs as it won all three matches in the A bracket. After losing his Page playoff match 7-5 to Mooibroek, King edged Mark Kean of Woodstock 7-6 in the semifinals to advance to the championship game against Mooibroek.

OTTAWA SPORTS AWARDS UNVEILS FINAL SET OF WINNERS

The 73rd Ottawa Sports Awards Dinner has announced its final two groups of winners, who will be honoured Feb. 4 at the Infinity Convention Centre.

Emily Bertrand and Allan Ryan will receive special recognition awards for their contributions to the Ottawa sports community.

A former competitive equestrian athlete, Bertrand makes her sport accessible to everyone through her coaching at all levels in show jumping, eventing and dressage. Her focus is developing youth programs to not only teach her students, but also instill teamwork, responsibility, work ethic, social skills and build confidence.

Ryan viewed the Goulbourn Sports Wall of Fame one day, shook his head and said it needs a total upgrade. He volunteered his time and energy to trigger the renaming to the Stittsville Sports Hall of Fame, which is located at the CardelRec Recreation Complex.

His efforts saw the modernization of the 19 inductee plaques from the 1990s and an induction ceremony in November.

Emma Shimizu will be the recipient of the Spirit of Sport Award, which “celebrates those who have set a meaningful example for others through their personal journey in sport.”

Shimizu was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lymphoma cancer at 19, when she was a first-year student and ringette player at Nipissing University. Despite her medical challenges, she stayed committed to coaching the East Ottawa Stars U13 AA girls’ hockey team during her treatments.

Employed as the high-performance co-ordinator with Wheelchair Basketball Canada, Shimizu continues to coach the Stars. She also has had numerous and successful internships, including Abilities Ottawa, Special Olympics Ontario in Ottawa, Capital City Condors and the Canadian Cancer Society.

The BGC (Boys and Girls’ Club) Ottawa Thunderbolts have been selected as the winner of the Ottawa Sports Endowment bursary of $750.

The Thunderbolts program teaches youth about sport, education and leadership, while providing a competitive sport experience at no charge. Each player is recognized as a student and individual first and a basketball player second.

During the 2024-25 basketball season, the Thunderbolts were back-to-back champions of the boys’ U19 North Pole Hoops Showcase League.

The Ottawa Sports Awards has also unveiled its top local athletes of 2025 in 70 sports, from archery through wrestling. The full list is available here.

Major awards for lifetime achievement and athletes, coaches and teams of the year were announced earlier. Local champion teams will be recognized as well.

uOTTAWA MEN RECORD WINNING WEEKEND ON BASKETBALL COURT

The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees men’s basketball team posted a double-win weekend in the OUA, turning back the Ontario Tech University Ridgebacks 72-61 and the Queen’s University Gaels 88-80.

Brock Newton was one of the leaders for the 7-5 Gee-Gees. He had 16 points and seven rebounds against Ontario Tech and 17 points and 10 rebounds in the game against Queen’s. Tesloch Luc counted 20 points and pulled down five rebounds against Queen’s.

The OUA East Division-leading Carleton University Ravens split their two games, defeating Queen’s 84-72, but losing to the 5-7 Ridgebacks 67-59.

Emanuel Milon and Marjok Okado sparked the Ravens with a combined 41 points and 39 points respectively. Milon and Cedric Mbiaba had 10 rebounds each against the Gaels.

On the women’s side, Carleton, 8-4, and Ottawa, 6-6, experienced 1-1 records each at home.

After losing 57-43 to Queen’s, Carleton beat Ontario Tech 56-39, while Ottawa also defeated Ontario Tech 80-51 and fell to Queen’s 85-66.

Abany Deng and Kyana-Jade Poulin contributed nine points apiece for Carleton against Queen’s, who received good point production from a pair of players from Ottawa – Bella Gaudet with 18 and Katrina Renon with 11.

The Ravens bounced back against Ontario Tech as Poulin had 18 points and seven rebounds, while Jacqueline Urban chipped in 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Bailey Russell notched noteworthy numbers for the Gee-Gees as she combined for 33 points in her two games as well as 12 rebounds and nine assists. Ivany Rheault-Langue had a 20-point game in 13 minutes against Ontario Tech and Allie McCarthy scored 16 points against the Gaels, who had a 19-point game from Gaudet.

ZACH GIROUX SCORES TWICE IN GEE-GEES’ WIN OVER RMC

The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees needed overtime and a shootout to edge Royal Military College Paladins 4-3 in OUA men’s hockey. The Gee-Gees scored the only goal in the shootout.

Zach Giroux scored twice in regulation time, while Lucas Veilleux had one for Ottawa.

Carleton University Ravens defeated East-leading Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes 3-2. Carleton’s three goals, including two on the powerplay, came in the second period from Brady Egan, who added an assist, Nick McCarry and Robbie Rutledge, who had the game-winning marker.

In women’s hockey, the Gee-Gees lost 2-1 to the University of Western Mustangs and 5-1 to the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks. Alexa Pongo scored for Ottawa against the Mustangs. Naomi Morin was Ottawa’s goal scorer in the Golden Hawks’ game.

Carleton was blanked 3-0 by Nipissing University as the Lakers scored all three goals in the third period.

UNDEFEATED CANADA WINS POOL AT WORLD WOMEN’S U18 HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP

Canada won its first three games at the IIHF U18 women’s world hockey championship in Cape Breton to finish in first place in Pool A.

The Canadian lineup includes three players from the Nepean Wildcats – forward Maggie Hughson and defenders Avery Jones and Kate Viel – and another from the Ottawa Senators women, forward Jaylee MacKinnon.

Viel collected one goal and three assists in the first three games, while Jones has earned three assists and MacKinnon has picked up two assists.

END NOTES

· Ottawa Curling Club’s Rachel Homan lost to Kerri Einarson of Gimli, MB, 7-6 in an extra end semifinal at the Crown Royal Players’ Championship in Steinbach, MB. After winning the first three Grand Slams this season, Homan lost in the Canadian Open quarterfinals before entering the Players’ Championship. Playing in her fifth consecutive Grand Slam final, Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni won her second straight title with a 6-5, eight-end decision over Einarson.

· Ottawa’s Akheem Mesidor will be a major force on the University of Miami defensive line, when the No. 10 Hurricanes run onto their home Hard Rock Stadium football field for the NCAA Division 1 College Football Playoff championship game Monday against the No. 1 Indiana University Hoosiers. In the semifinals, Mesidor, a sixth-year redshirt senior, had four solo tackles as the Hurricanes defeated No. 6 Ole Miss 31-27. Mesidor posted five solo tackles, including two sacks for a loss of 23 yards, in Miami’s 24-14 upset over No. 2 Ohio State University Buckeyes.

· Skyler Goudswaard of The Cyclery Racing team placed second in the women’s individual pursuit final at the Canadian track cycling championships on the Velodrome Sylvan Adams track in Bromont, PQ.

· Saul Taler of the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club and Queen’s University placed 41st in the men’s U20 8 kilometre race at the World Athletics cross-country running championships in Tallahassee, Florida, in 26 minutes, 18 seconds. He was third among Canadians and helped the national team finish eighth with 148 placement points.

· Ottawa’s Isaiah Ibit of Kent State University tied for 46th place during the Jones Cup men’s amateur golf tournament at Sea Island, Georgia, after rounds of 76-75 for a seven-over par 151.

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