MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – MacEwan's curling program has a proud tradition of strong men's teams, but the well has run a little dry of late.
In 2014, Jordan Steinke led his Griffins rink to a Canadian Colleges Athletic Association championship.
In 2018, the Griffins are in danger of not having a single male curler in the program, putting their mixed curling possibilities at risk, as well.
So, head coach Tom Kitagawa is putting out the call for walk-on male curlers to join the program ahead of team tryouts Sept. 10-12 at the Leduc Curling Club. If interested, contact him here and fill out registration here.
"The MacEwan Griffins men's curling program has had a proud tradition," he said of a team that has three ACAC men's championship banners in its history. "At one point in time, the men's team went to nationals three years in a row and won a medal twice (gold in 2014 and silver in 2013)."
But nothing lasts forever with a university team; MacEwan hasn't had a men's rink since 2015 when Steinke and his crew either graduated or left the institution.
At least the Griffins were able to field a mixed rink the past few seasons, but now that well has dried up, too; both Jordan Semen and Quintin Bishop have graduated, while Aidan Munro is stepping back from Griffins curling to focus on academics.
That means Kitagawa is looking for newcomers from the MacEwan student body to step up and join the team.
"There's a base level of skill we would really like to see – some level of experience," he said. "Most of the better curling men's and women's (players), they tend to come from a fairly competitive background.
"But we'll look at anybody. We're open to anybody coming."
The Griffins will compete at the ACAC Fall Regional (Nov. 23-25 in Red Deer) and the ACAC Winter Regional (Jan. 25-27 in Edmonton at Avonair Curling Club). The ACAC Championship, which the Griffins need to qualify for, is set for Feb. 22-24 at Olds. The 2019 CCAA Championship is scheduled for March 15-19 in Fredericton, N.B.
The Griffins will head into the season with at least a women's team, but Kitagawa would love to field men's and mixed rinks, too. Beyond the competitions, there's much more to the experience.
"There's a great camaraderie," said Kitagawa. "We try to do some team building. They become very good friends. I know the mixed team was a really tight group and the ladies, too, for that matter.
"Some of these players are very close friends today after being together for a couple of years."
