HIGH ACHIEVERS WEEKEND WRAP: Charlotte Wilson guides Rideau rink to Ontario girls’ U18 curling title, Canadian championship on horizon

By Martin Cleary

Rideau Curling Club skip Charlotte Wilson had a solid plan as she approached the Ontario girls’ U18 curling championship last month for the third time in her young career.

“We wanted a bye to the final. That was our goal,” Wilson said with conviction in a recent phone interview.

For the favoured Wilson rink to achieve that lofty prize, it would have to win all seven games on its round-robin menu. That didn’t happen, but Team Wilson managed to reach that point, despite a few unnerving moments along the way.

After finishing tied for second place in the round-robin with a 5-2 win-loss record, she powered Team Wilson to two convincing and early-ending playoff victories and the team’s first Ontario U18 championship at the Penetanguishene Curling Club. Wilson was second in 2025 and fourth in 2024.

Team Wilson extended the winning streak of Ottawa Valley Curling Association teams to six at the Ontario girls’ U18 championship, going back to 2019. There were no competitions in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The other winners were Katrina Frlan, Huntley Curling Club (2025, 2023); Dominique Vivier, Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club (2024); Emma Acres, RCMP Curling Club (2022); and Emily Deschênes, Manotick Curling Centre (2019).

Charlotte Wilson, 16, is the skip for Team Wilson, while Amelia Benning, 14, is the third, Abby Rushton, 17, is the second and Sydney Anderson, 16, is the lead. Iain Wilson is the coach of the team. Anderson, who joined Wilson’s rink last season, also played on the Vivier championship rink in 2024.

Benning had a double reason to celebrate at the Ontario U18 event as her brother Aaron played third on the boys’ championship team, which was skipped by Tyler MacTavish of the Kitchener-Waterloo Granite Club. Brian Benning is the coach of Team MacTavish, which won the provincial boys’ title for a third straight year.

“We won our first three games, but lost both games on Friday,” Charlotte said about a pair of one-point losses to Madeleine Garrie of the Westmount Golf and Country Club 4-3 and Kylie Hewitt of the Stroud Curling Club 5-4.

“We actually thought we were out or on the verge of being out. But we still had two more round-robin games remaining.”

Team Wilson revived their games and downed Lauren Penston of the Ayr Curling Club 11-5 and Jayme Galardo of the Barrie Curling Club 11-7 to place second in the round robin at 5-2 along with Penston. Garrie ranked first at 6-1.

“We didn’t get our goal so we had to do it the hard way. It was a long week,” she added.

In the stressful playoffs, Team Wilson was in full control, defeating Penston 9-1 in six ends of the scheduled eight-end semifinal and Garrie 8-2 in the championship game, also in six ends. Wilson led 6-0 after four ends against Penston, and counted five in the fifth end against Garrie.

“It was very stressful. Every game was a must-win,” Wilson recalled. “Our mindset was to focus on every shot. In the playoffs, we turned it on when we had to.”

By reaching the final, Wilson knew the team had already qualified to represent Ontario at the eight-day Canadian girls’ U18 championships, which begin Sunday in Timmins, ON. But they wanted the win to be the No. 1 Ontario team entering nationals.

“It was a big relief,” Wilson said about winning her first provincial U18 title. “We treated it as a must-win game and used the same plan that we had to win. We played well.

“We were close all week. We were positive. We worked as one unit.”

That strategy has served Team Wilson well as it has only had four losses this season. The team has won three events on the Ottawa Junior Curling Series, two on the U18 Junior Grand Slam and the Stu Sells U18 Tankard in Oakville.

By winning the U20 Junior Slam Series Sapphire Event in Niagara Falls, Team Wilson automatically qualified for the Ontario women’s U20 championship Feb. 25 to March 1 in Waterloo. Team Wilson also will compete in the 2026 Ontario Winter Games Feb. 18-22 in Orillia.

Teamwork off the ice also played a key role in Team Wilson’s success on the ice.

The players’ parents have worked hard finding team sponsorship, including Azure Urban Developments and Kelly Santini LLP, providing healthy meals for curlers on competition days and driving them to multiple weekly practices and Tuesday night league play at the Rideau Curling Club.

Each curler also follows their own strength and conditioning programs.

SKIP HAILEY ARMSTRONG DENIED SCOTTIES PLAYOFF BERTH

Hailey Armstrong’s first Canadian women’s Scotties national curling championship as a skip proved she belongs on the ice with the best rinks in the country.

The Carleton Place skip led her Whitby Curling Club rink of Grace Lloyd, Michaela Robert and Rachel Steele to a 5-3 round-robin record and a fourth-place finish in Pool A. Armstrong missed the playoffs by one spot as only the top three rinks from both pools advanced to the knockout round.

Armstrong and Taylour Stevens of Halifax tied for third place in their pool at the end of the round robin, which forced a tiebreaker game. The low-scoring 2-2 match after six ends exploded with plenty of points and lead changes over the final four ends.

Stevens counted four in the seventh end for a 6-2 lead. Armstrong cut the deficit in half with two in the eighth end, but moved into a 7-6 advantage by stealing three in the ninth. But in the decisive 10th end, Stevens picked up three for a 9-7 win and a berth in the playoffs.

Team Armstrong won its first round-robin match 9-5 over Nicky Kaufman of the Northwest Territories, but dropped its next two games to the eventual Scotties finalists – 7-6 to Team Canada’s Kerri Einarson of Gimli, MB, who was Sunday’s champion, and 11-6 to Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg.

Armstrong finished the round robin with four straight wins – 6-3 over Bayly Scoffin of Whitehorse, Yukon, 7-3 over Taylor Reese-Hansen of Victoria, B.C., 8-5 over Jolianne Fortin of Jonquière, PQ, and 8-4 over Jolene Campbell of Regina, SK.

LOCAL CROSS-COUNTRY SKIERS HOPING FOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BERTHS

Four local athletes are in contention to represent Canada at the world U23 cross-country skiing championships March 2-8 in Lillehammer, Norway.

At the national-team trials in Canmore, Luke Allan of Nakkertok Nordic won the men’s 10-kilometre classic, was second in the 20-kilometre mass-start free technique and third in the sprint free.

Anna Stewart of Nakkertok and Thunder Bay was the women’s 10-kilometre classic winner by 64.5 seconds over clubmate Katya Semeniuk, who also was second in the 20-kilometre mass-start free technique race and third in the sprint.

Kanata Nordic Ski Club’s Helen McCulligh was second in the U23 sprint, fourth in the 10-kilometre classic and sixth in the 20-kilometre mass-start free technique.

CARLETON, OTTAWA READY FOR ANNUAL CAPITAL HOOPS CLASSIC

On the heels of undefeated basketball weekends against Northern Ontario rivals, the Carleton University Ravens and the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees turn their focus to the annual Capital Hoops Classic on Friday at TD Place Arena.

In their first OUA meetings this season, Carleton won both games over Ottawa by contrasting margins. The Ravens hung on to edge the host Gee-Gees 64-63 in the women’s game and the Carleton men’s team outscored Ottawa in each of the last three quarters for an 83-64 win.

The Ravens won their sixth OUA men’s game in a row and strengthened their East Division first-place record to 16-2 by defeating Lakehead University Thunderwolves 71-64 and Algoma University Thunderbirds 91-61.

Aubrey Dorey-Havens led Carleton with 15 points, four rebounds and two assists against Lakehead. Tyler Brown came off the bench against Algoma for a 20-point, five-rebound game, while Louth-Mohamed Coulibaly had a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double.

The Gee-Gees turned back Algoma 92-55 as Owen Kenney connected for 17 points, five rebounds and a pair of assists and steals. Alec Phaneuf scored a two-point basket at the buzzer to give Ottawa an 89-87 victory over Lakehead and finished with a team-high 17 points, five assists and three rebounds. Brock Newton also added 17 points, 10 rebounds, four blocked shots and three assists in a winning cause.

East Division-runner-up Carleton improved its women’s basketball record to 13-5, while Ottawa and Laurentian University Voyageurs have matching 10-8 marks for third and fourth place.

Carleton downed Lakehead 74-51 and Algoma 66-49, while Ottawa defeated Algoma 80-40 and Lakehead 78-68.

Kyana-Jade Poulin was Carleton’s top scorer in both games and had a combined 40 points and 16 rebounds. Jacqueline Urban added 20 points and eight rebounds against Lakehead and Hannah Beattie pulled down 10 rebounds in 16 minutes against Algoma.

Bailey Russell and Allie McCarthy continued to be the driving forces behind the Gee-Gees’ offence. They had 17 points apiece against Algoma, but Russell added seven steals, six rebounds and four assists, while McCarthy notched a double-double with 10 rebounds. Enora Touloute had a team-high eight steals.

Russell recorded 27 points and nine rebounds against Lakehead, while McCarthy tossed in 21 points and added seven rebounds and two assists.

GILLIAN WARREN LEADS GEE-GEES WOMEN’S HOCKEY TEAM

The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees swept a pair of OUA women’s hockey games, defeating Western University Mustangs 2-1 in overtime and Brock University Badgers 3-1. The Gee-Gees are in second place in the East Division at 12-7-2-1.

Gillian Warren scored one goal in each game to move into fifth place in the OUA point scoring race with 21 in 22 games. She counted the overtime winner against the Mustangs.

Alex Ferguson also scored for the Gee-Gees against Western. Beatrice Bilodeau and Rebecca Morissette completed the Ottawa scoring in the Brock game. Maelle Laplante added two assists, giving her 14 for the season and a share of third place in the OUA assist standings.

Carleton University Ravens split a pair of games, defeating Brock University Badgers 5-2, but losing 2-0 to Western.

Anya Misner scored twice and Hayden Serniuk, Payton Miller and Ashlyn Carter added one goal each as Carleton outscored Brock. The Ravens are seventh in the East at 7-12-2-0.

The Gee-Gees men’s hockey team defeated the Nipissing University Lakers 4-2 on goals from Chris Barlas, Jacob LeGuerrier, Zach Giroux and Alexis Bonefon.

The OUA-leading Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes doubled the score on Ottawa 6-3. Mitchell Martin, Nicolas Bilodeau and Bonefon were the Ottawa goal scorers.

Ottawa is in fourth place in the East Division at 14-10, while the Carleton University Ravens are eighth at 10-15.

The Carleton offence was quiet as the Ravens lost 3-1 to the Patriotes and 6-1 to the McGill University Redbirds. Alex Johnson scored for Carleton against UQTR and Brady Egan had the Ravens’ lone goal against McGill.