Special memories
O’Connor, Smith have shared unforgettable victories during the past 12 years
SUMMERSIDE – Two young P.E.I. curlers have shared some special memories in their junior careers.
They hope to add another chapter to the story during the next week.
Rachel O’Connor of Charlottetown and Tyler Smith of Hunter River will be representing P.E.I. in their final New Holland Canadian junior under-21 curling championships in Langley, B.C. Their journey, however, started 12 years ago.
“I ended up winning my first provincials back in 2008 in Crapaud,” said O’Connor, lead with the Lauren Ferguson rink out of the Cornwall Curling Club. “Three other girls picked me up to play on their team for that.
“Tyler won the same year for under-12 in Crapaud and my brother (Noah) was actually curling on his team when they won, which was pretty neat, too.
“Then, about three years ago, I won my first under-21 provincials and Tyler won that year as well with my brother on the team, and we all went to Victoria, B.C., for nationals back in 2017.”
Another interesting tidbit is O’Connor and Smith won their first provincial championship on the same day at the Crapaud Community Curling Club, the site of their most recent and final provincial junior titles – also on the same day, Dec. 29.
“I’ve been to a few more nationals since then and now we are both finishing off our junior careers in Langley, B.C.,” said O’Connor, 21. “That was pretty neat that we both won our last junior provincials in the Crapaud Curling Club, where it kind of all began.
“It is pretty neat and it doesn’t happen too often.”
Asked what he remembers about his first provincial title, Smith said his team had to play a tiebreaker to get to the final.
“I don’t really remember much about the final, but for some reason, I remember that it was on Ice 3 in Crapaud,” said Smith. “I remember the tiebreaker more than I remember the final.”
As fate would have it, Smith’s Montague Curling Club rink clinched his fifth provincial junior title as skip on the same sheet of ice.
“That is ironic,” added a chuckling Smith, 21.
O’Connor said it’s pretty cool she and Smith can look back on their accomplishments together.
“Right after we both won we were going over it and brought out an old news article from when we both won back in 2008 and were talking about it,” said O’Connor.
“It’s pretty cool we get to end our junior career together at the same time at the same club.”
The O’Connor and Smith
families have become familiar with each other through the years.
“We were always in the same events,” said Smith. “Rachel’s teams and the teams I was on would usually play the same tournaments around the Maritimes.
“Her brother played with me for a few years and we went to the Canada Games and the national juniors with him. We’ve been around each other for a while.”