Guelph curler Tori Zemmelink, and her teammates, are finding their groove at the right time.
Zemmelink, whose rink is representing the Guelph Curling Club, is coming off key tournament wins, including one that qualified the team for the Swiss Junior Cup in Bern, Switzerland, next month.
“Oh my gosh, we’re so excited. We have just been talking about it a lot, we are just so excited,” Zemmelink said.
The Swiss Junior Cup runs Feb. 23 to 25. It’ll be Zemmelink’s first time competing overseas.
And it comes at a good time, too. Zemmelink, a fourth year psychology and biology undergrad student at the University of Guelph, won't have to miss class, as the tournament falls on reading week.
The quartet gets to go after a successful venture to the WFG Canadian Junior Cup, held in Oshawa last month.
Teams from other countries also competed in the under-21 tournament, but a spot in Switzerland went to the top Canadian team of the weekend.
Zemmelink’s crew went a perfect 3-0 through the qualifying round. Then, after defeating – ironically enough – a Swiss team 4-3 in the semifinal, her team stood as the last Canadian entry standing, clinching the trip.
“We still wanted to go and win the rest of the event,” she said. “So we celebrated and then we brought our emotions back down, and then we were able to close out the event with an event win, which was awesome.”
It’s a highlight of what Zemmelink said has been a “roller coaster” season for her and teammates Emma Artichuk, Kailee Delaney and Lauren Rajala.
The team formed in April, and the season began in August.
“From August until November, we were struggling to find our groove,” Zemmelink said.
“It wasn’t until the end of November where we started seeing some success at our events.”
First, a semifinal finish. Then, it was qualifying for Switzerland. And even after that, the group has kept the momentum going.
Before heading across the Atlantic, the team will compete at the Ontario Scotties after going perfect at the qualifiers this past weekend in Oakville.
It's come amid a transition on the team. Zemmelink started the season as the team's skip, but has since made way for Artichuk to take the reins.
Zemmelink is now playing as lead. She said the switch has been interesting, but is liking how things are going.
“I’m experiencing the game from a different position, which is always good to do, makes you more rounded as a player, to be able to try and play a different position.” she said.
“I’m enjoying it, I enjoy sweeping but we played around with the lineup so that I also get a chance to still be in the house a little bit, holding the broom for our skip now. I’m throwing lead, but in the house holding the broom for skip stones.
"I get to honestly experience an aspect of every position, which is awesome. No complaints.”
And as for the Swiss Junior Cup, Zemmelink is ready to go, and is honoured to represent Canada.
“We’re going to try and represent Canada well, even though it wasn’t the full national that we won to get to go, we’re still repping Canada in some aspect,” she said.
“We’re hoping to make everybody proud, and enjoy our time over there.”
