Dolan well- known on and off the ice
Charlottetown curler has played at and helped host national championships
Kim Dolan of Charlottetown, one of P. E. I.’ s most recognizable female curlers, will be inducted into the Prince Edward Island Curling Hall of Fame and Museum on Monday, Oct. 15.
The induction ceremony will take place at the Charlottetown Curling Club.
Wanda MacLean of Summerside, the late Don Hutchinson of Charlottetown and the late Irving MacKinnon of Charlottetown will also be inducted.
Dolan started her curling career in 1974 at the Charlottetown Curling Club.
The main incentives for beginning a journey that would see her compete in major Canadian curling championships — as well as chair national curling events — were, quite simply, an active school curling program and the fact that her mom and dad both curled.
Not wasting any time, she won her first of three Prince Edward Island junior women’s curling championships in 1974 as lead for skip Gloria Basha. Janet Wood was third stone and Anne Hennessey played second stone.
The next year, 1975, they repeated the win with the same team in the same positions. In 1976, she was again a winner, this time playing third for skip Anne Merklinger, with Kathie Burke at second and Karen Stewart at lead.
Dolan moved up into women’s curling in 1980, winning nine P. E. I. championships, holding the record for the most provincial women’s curling championship wins on P. E. I.
Her first win as a women’s competitor was in 1983, when she teamed with third stone Cathy Dillon, second stone Karen MacDonald and lead Kathie Burke.
Dolan won with the same team in 1985. In 1987, she won again, this time with the changed lineup of third stone Karen Jones, second Shelley Muzika and lead Nancy Reid.
In 1988, curling was introduced as a demonstration sport at the Calgary Olympics. Leading up to that, in 1987, Dolan was invited to an elite camp for curlers with the purpose of forming teams that would go forward to the Olympic trials.
She was successful in being named to play with Colleen Jones as part of an Atlantic team to play in the trials.
After surgery for a back injury, Dolan came back in 1990, skipping her team of Jones at third, Muzika at second and lead Janice MacCallum to her fourth provincial women’s title.
In 1992, three of her players left the Island, however, with Susan McInnis at third, second Julie Scales and lead Marion MacAulay filling the roster, she again won the provincial title.
In 1995, Dolan decided she needed a change from skipping and teamed up with a former junior star, Rebecca Jean MacPhee.
Dolan played third, MacAulay was the second stone, and Lou Ann Henry handled the lead responsibilities to win the provincial women’s championship.
This turned out to be a winning combination as they repeated their win in 1997 and again in 1999.
With one change to the lineup — Kathy O’Rourke playing second — they had the honour of playing in front of the hometown crowd as Charlottetown hosted the 1999 championship.
Dolan’s last P. E. I. women’s championship came in 2012. It had been 20 years since she had skipped a team at the Canadian women’s championship, and her last appearance as a curler at the national competition was in 1999.
With her team of Rebecca Jean MacDonald at third, her daughter Sinead at second, Nancy Cameron at lead and Michala Robison as alternate lead, they became only the 11th team in the women’s championship event to score a sixender.
Dolan also was prominent in Island mixed curling, winning four provincial titles, and has held numerous positions organizing national curling events. She is also a Level 2 coach. George Riley of Kensington and his wife Earith hold the Glen Kennedy Award presented to Riley at the recent Atlantic Breeders Crown banquet in Cornwall. The award is presented for outstanding contribution to the Maritime breeding industry and the Atlantic Standardbred Breeders Association.