Golf club or curling broom in hand, a foursome from the west coast has found success together as a close-knit group on and off the field of play.
The Daniel Bruce foursome out of the Corner Brook Curling Club won the provincial U21 men’s curling championship last month with a perfect 4-0 record at the Gander Curling Club to earn the right to represent Newfoundland and Labrador at the 2018 New Holland Canadian Junior Men’s Curling Championship being held Jan. 13-21 in Shawinigan, Que.
The winning rink also included Corner Brook’s Andrew Bruce and Nathan King and Stephenville native Ryan McNeil Lamswood with Nathan Young of Paradise added to the mix as the fifth in case of injury or sickness.
McNeil Lamswood is the most seasoned member of the team, having represented the province at national curling events on four occasions, while the three Corner Brook buddies will be making their first national curling appearance.
The foursome spend the cold winter months together throwing rocks all over Atlantic Canada, but they also share the golf course during the summer months so they have built chemistry through time.
Andrew Bruce has represented his province at national golf tournaments four times, while McNeil Lamswood has done so twice and Daniel and Nathan have one appearance each at a national golf event.
Daniel Bruce said getting a chance to play for his province at a national curling tournament means more to him than his golf national appearance because of the hard work his rink put in over the past few years to reach their goals.
“I’ve been dreaming about this for awhile so it’s going to be awesome,” Daniel said earlier this week.
The team, with the support of their parents, are all business when it comes to throwing rocks. They hit the ice for practice every opportunity and travel off the island to different tournaments to ensure they play some tough teams to prepare them for provincial and higher levels of competition every year.
Daniel said it’s nice to see everything fall into place when he knows the sacrifices the guys made over the past year to put them in a position to take on the best in the country.
“We’ve been working really hard for the past couple of years so it’s nice to see it pay off,” he said.
Some of the best teams in the country stand in their way of gold in Shawinigan.
But, that’s just fine with the guys because they’ve been in pressure situations before so they figure they will hold their own.
The goal is to win enough games in the early going to advance to the championship pool where the top teams will be in the spotlight with a national crown on the line.
“It’s just a matter of not getting too high or too low,” Bruce said. “We’ve been playing really well and everybody is feeling really good about it.”
Name: Daniel Bruce
Position: Skip
Age: 18
Hometown: Corner Brook/born in Ottawa
Experience: Third Provincial Curling Title (U16/U18/U21). First curling nationals (played golf nationals once)
Name: Ryan McNeil Lamswood
Position: Third
Age: 17
Hometown: Stephenville
Experience: Fifth provincial curling title (U18/U21 three times/Mixed Doubles). Fourth curling nationals (played golf Nationals twice)
Name: Andrew Bruce
Position: Second
Age:18
Hometown: Corner Brook/born in Ottawa
Experience: Third provincial curling title (U16/U18/U21). First curling nationals (played golf nationals four times)
Name: Nathan King
Position: Lead
Age: 18
Hometown: Corner Brook
Experience: Third provincial curling title (U16/U18/U21). First curling nationals (played golf nationals once)
Name: Nathan Young
Position: Fifth
Age: 15
Hometown: Torbay
Experience: One provincial curling title (U16). First appearance national curling tournament.
Name: Dennis Bruce
Position: Coach
Hometown: Corner Brook
Experience: Third provincial curling title as coach. First curling nationals as Coach (played in Senior Curling Nationals in 2015)
