Sault curling team ready for new challenge at U18 nationals

It’s the ultimate test for Canada’s young curlers, and one local team feels like they have what it takes to rise to the occasion.

Evan Robert, a Grade 12 student at Korah Collegiate and skip for Team Robert, has been curling at the YNCU Curling Centre since he was 10 years old, with the hope of one day making it to the national stage.

Along with his teammates Justin MacKay (vice), Ben Appleton (second), Ben Miskiw (lead), as well as coach Jeff Masters, Robert’s squad has turned that dream into a reality.

“We’ve been preparing for quite a few years now,” Robert says. “It’s still pretty surreal.”

Competing as a foursome for just under a year now, Team Robert is preparing for the biggest tournament of their young lives when they head to the Under-18 National Championship in Timmins next month.

Robert and Appleton are both Grade 12 students at Korah, while Miskiw and MacKay are in Grade 11 at White Pines.

MacKay and Robert have been curling with each other since they got into the sport years ago, and the two of them formed a team with Appleton within the last two years.

The three of them competed together at the provincial championship in 2022 where they came up just short of qualifying for nationals.

This year, Miskiw became the newest addition to the team after the squad’s other member aged out, and they registered for provincials in North Bay that played out this past weekend.

Hungry for a berth into nationals, Robert says his team worked hard to make sure they were prepared heading in.

“We practiced together as much as we could before provincials,” Robert says. “There turned out to be five boys’ teams there, one of them being our rivals from Sudbury.”

Despite losing to Sudbury in the final last weekend, Team Robert’s 3-1 record in the round robin secured them a spot in the upcoming national championship.

Nationals was definitely always a goal of mine when I started competitive curling. We’ve had our eyes on nationals for a while now,” Robert says.

“I’m following in my father’s footsteps a bit,” he adds. “He’s been to a few nationals for different things too.”

Robert explains that the team has an undeniable chemistry that helps them through even the tightest of matches, and their ability to focus on the task at hand while keeping things light makes a huge difference in their play.

“We just have fun,” he says. “We have lots of fun at the competitions. There’s an equal share of passing jokes while being serious. It just makes it that much more enjoyable.”

Coached by Jeff Masters, Robert says he doesn’t know where the team would be without his leadership.

“He does a great job with coaching,” he says. “He’s very thorough. Without him, I don’t think we’d be able to be as competitive as we are. He’s super organized.”

Knowing they’ll be representing the Sault under the country’s brightest lights in less than three weeks, Robert is looking forward to soaking it all in.

“It feels good,” he says. “There haven’t been many junior teams out of the Sault that get to represent the city in a national. We’re really excited to represent our city.”

The U18 National Championship in Timmins will take place from Feb. 5-11 and will feature 21 boys’ teams spread across three pools.

Team Robert will play a minimum of six games, and they’ll be in the same pool with their rival from Sudbury.

The winner of nationals will represent Canada at the World Junior Curling Championships in a yet-to-be-determined location from Feb. 25 to Mar. 4.  

Live scoring updates can be found on Curling Canada’s website once the tournament begins.