HIGH ACHIEVERS: Canterbury Chargers strike unexpected bronze medal at OFSAA girls’ curling championships

By Martin Cleary

If you were to recount the 2025-26 Canterbury High School girls’ curling season in a book or two or three, the OFSAA championships would serve as the perfect bookends.

Please, let me explain.

At the start of the National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association curling season in early December, the convenor told each of the seven OFSAA-league teams that Ottawa could send two teams to the 2026 provincial high school championships in Thunder Bay.

Normally, the NCSSAA has only had one berth at the OFSAA championship and it was reserved for the Ottawa champion.

Despite airplane travel and almost a week’s worth of accommodation, which is significantly more expensive and longer than most OFSAA championships, the news was well received by the coaches.

“Last year, we finished second (NCSSAA league) and I knew there was a possibility of winning the city championship as we had the same core group,” Canterbury Chargers girls’ curling coach Kelly Searle said in a phone interview on Tuesday.

“But this year there was (another) opportunity and we were asked, if we placed in the top two, would we want to go to OFSAA? I had an idea we would finish in the top two. Thankfully, we said yes.

“I asked the girls as well. I didn’t make the decision solo. I asked the girls, if we finish in the top two, would they want to go to Thunder Bay? It’s a big trek. The girls said absolutely.”

Three months later, the Chargers were flying to the most populous municipality in northwestern Ontario to challenge the best in the province with a team of two competitive and three recreational curlers.

Seven games later, including the majority of them decided by one or two points, Canterbury was flying home with the bronze medal. It was the second bronze medal in the history of the Canterbury girls’ curling program.

Reaching the medal podium certainly wasn’t a realistic goal, but all the pieces snapped together as their won six of seven matches, absorbing their only defeat in the semifinals.

Skip Ainsley Morris, third Lily Smith, second Grace Lockhart and lead Morgan Cournoyer used the hammer to score two points in the final eighth end and didn’t need to deliver their final stone to win the bronze medal, overtaking Frontenac of Kingston 6-5.

Madeleine Hibberd was the other member of the Canterbury team at OFSAA, while teammates Breana Kirby and Sarah Flood remained at home. Each team was restricted to only five players for the OFSAA championship.

The Chargers also had two student-athletes on a practice roster.

“It was so exciting,” said Searle, who shared the coaching duties with her nephew and avid curler Andrew Searle and former Canterbury coach Chris Walsh, who also served as the Chargers’ virtual coach for OFSAA.

“Honestly, when we initially qualified for the (NCSSAA) final and lost the championship, I said ‘OK, maybe we’ll win a game (at OFSAA).’”

South Carleton defeated Canterbury 8-5 in the NCSSAA girls’ curling final in early March.

But Canterbury played like frontrunners at OFSAA, placing first in its round-robin pool at 4-0 by defeating York Mills 10-4, Nantyr Shores 6-5, Hammarskjold 8-4 and Marymount Academy 8-6.

In the quarterfinals, the Chargers scored two points in the sixth end for a 5-4 lead and stole two in the seventh end for a 7-4 win over Norwell District to secure a berth in the semifinals.

Despite leading 3-2 after five ends in its semifinal, Canterbury allowed two points in the sixth end and one in the seventh as Theriault of Timmins advanced to the final with a 5-3 victory.

In the back-and-forth bronze-medal match, Canterbury had two well-guarded counting stones late in the eighth end, but Frontenac couldn’t move them. Lily Smith didn’t need to use her final stone, which triggered the medal celebration.

As the Canterbury players approached the bronze-medal game, they asked Kelly Searle if they were guaranteed a medal – bronze for the win or antique bronze for a loss.

“I told the girls I didn’t know, if there was an antique bronze medal. I said I didn’t think so,” she added.

The Chargers made sure they would earn a medal by capturing the third-place match and later found out the fourth-place team would receive the antique bronze.

“Oh my gosh, we were so happy. Ecstatic,” Searle explained. “Going into OFSAA, we were hoping to win a game or two.

“But the girls showed perseverance, came from behind and were calm under pressure. They also helped each other through all things.”

The NCSSAA championship team of Marin Graham, Ceilidh Spare, Olivia Mitchell, Morgan Graham and coach Melissa Wright from South Carleton reached the girls’ quarterfinals, but lost 6-3 in seven ends to Frontenac. South Carleton was second in its round-robin pool at 3-1.

At the OFSAA boys’ curling championship in Thunder Bay, the All Saints team of Lilly Twining, Mitchell Evans, Nathan Hu, London Goodings, Cody Briggs, Nathan Fransham and coach Shawn Sutcliffe lost 8-1 to eventual champion Port Perry in the quarterfinals. All Saints placed second in its pool at 3-1.

NEPEAN KNIGHTS REACH OFSAA GIRLS’ AAA HOCKEY QUARTERFINALS

The undefeated Nepean Knights qualified for the OFSAA girls’ AAA hockey championship playoffs, but lost 3-1 to Lawrence Park in the quarterfinals.

In their four-game round robin, the Knights defeated St. Thomas of Villanova 6-3 and Stouffville 2-0 and tied Havergal 2-2 and St. Peter 1-1.

Kylie Hollingsworth was Nepean’s top point scorer with five goals, including one power-player marker and one game winner, and one assist. Athena Casey and Renley Cowan each had two goals and three assists.

Louis-Riel, which won the National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association title over Nepean, lost all four of its preliminary-round games – 6-2 to Brooklin, 8-6 to St. Peter’s, 3-1 to Holy Trinity and 9-2 to St. Joseph-Scollard Hall.

Emma Lewis led Riel with three goals and three assists, while Mallea McMullin had two goals and three assists in her two games. Annabelle McKenzie also contributed two goals and two assists.

At the OFSAA girls’ A/AA hockey championship, St. Mark missed the playoffs with round-robin losses to St. Mary 2-1, Theriault 4-1 and Georgian Bay District (eventual champion) 4-2.

Carley O’Connor sparked St. Mark with two goals and two assists, while Sophia Nesbit recorded one goal and two assists.