In the house
Cousins Karlee, Lindsey Burgess to compete at Truro Masters event
Karlee and Lindsey Burgess have played at the highest level of junior curling, however, they will take their game up another notch next week at the Canadian Beef Masters Grand Slam event in Truro.
Three years ago, Lindsey Burgess attended the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling Masters event in Truro as a volunteer. Next week, she’ll return – this time as a competitor.
Burgess throws lead stones for the Kaitlyn Jones rink that will play in the competition Oct. 23-28 at the Rath-eastlink Community Centre.
“I remember I volunteered for it and I was getting signatures and I was star-struck by everyone,” Lindsey said of the 2015 event. “And I remember I was talking to dad and saying it would be so cool playing on this stage.”
The Canadian Beef Masters features 15 of the world’s top men’s and women’s teams. Each earned their spot based on the World Curling Tour’s Order of Merit rankings. The Jones foursome, which also includes Lindsey’s cousin Karlee (second) and Lauren Lenentine (third), are reigning world junior champions and will be playing on a sponsor’s exemption.
“We’re super honoured, especially for Lindsey and I, to play in our hometown,” said Karlee. “It’s the biggest stage we can be on at this point in our lifetimes, so we’re really excited.
“It’s a pretty special moment for our team.”
Karlee, 20, from Hilden, and Lindsey, 19, of Truro, both learned the game at Truro Curling Club, but didn’t play on the same junior team until last year.
They enjoyed great success, winning provincial, national and world gold, and now look forward to the opportunity of playing together at the next level.
“Even growing up, we said, ‘we’re gonna play together one day, we’re gonna make it together one day,’ and we did and it’s just so cool to be able to share that with each other, especially since we are so close and it’s pretty cool to be able to do that with your best friend,” Lindsey said.
Team Jones will be the youngest group at the Masters, however, the girls have somewhat of a feel for the competition at this level. Last spring, the foursome competed in the Humpty’s Champions Cup in Calgary where they faced
world-class teams skipped by Val Sweeting, Kerri Einarson, Silvana Tirinzoni and Olympic champion Jennifer Jones.
Although they went winless, they gained valuable experience, which should bode well for the Masters event.
“Win or lose, we just want to prove that we belong here and that we’re gonna get back to this stage eventually,” Lindsey said.