CAPITAL WINTER CLUB WELL REPRESENTED IN CLASS OF 2023 NEW BRUNSWICK CURLING FALL OF FAME INDUCTEES.
The class of 2023's New Brunswick Curling Hall of Fame has been announced and the Capital Winter Club will be well represented at the induction ceremonies.
2005 Canadian Junior Women’s Champion – Team Kelly
The journey to a national title for Team Kelly was hard-fought and began in 2002 at the Canadian Junior Championships where they took 7th place. Undeterred the team took their experience and moved forward, securing the bronze medal at the Canadian Junior Championships the following year. Determined to advance, Team Kelly returned once again to the national stage at the 2005 Canadian Junior Curling Championships held in N.B. Finishing with a record of 9-3 Team Kelly went on to bring home the championship title becoming the 2005 Canadian Junior Champions. Team Kelly composed of Skip Andrea Kelly, Third Kristen MacDiarmid, Second Jodie DeSolla, Lead Lianne Sobey and Coach, Paul Green has been held up as an example of continuous improvement, perseverance, determination, and dedication to the craft.
Rolly Lord
Roland “Rolly” Lord was born and raised in Fredericton Junction, N.B. Rolly started out curling on natural ice and moved on to the artificial ice of curling clubs and then on to area curling at the national level. He had competed in many provincial champions and attended eleven national championships winning the National Senior Men Curling Championships in 1994. In addition to playing, he worked with several youth teams and coached a Junior Curling team to victory at the Provincial Championships in 1992. Rolly went on to make curling history in Canada by skipping at the Masters at age 82, with twin sons, age 61. Rolly maintained, this was the most treasured of all his curling achievements.
Grace Donald
Grace (Sewell) Donald of Fredericton had outstanding careers in curling and golf at the highest levels of competition in New Brunswick and nationally. Despite battling sexual discrimination in both sports during the 1960’s and 1970’s, Grace excelled and worked to level the playing field for other women. She skipped rinks to New Brunswick curling championships and moved to the national scene in four different decades (1970s to the 2000s). She won the N.B. Scott Tournament of Hearts twice when she was a Senior and is the oldest skip ever to compete at the national event and competed at the provincial ladies curling championship for 25 consecutive years. Grace has been honoured many times for her lengthy and remarkable career, including induction into the Fredericton Sports Wall of Fame. Grace was enrolled into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame, May 28, 2011.
2014 World Senior Men’s Champions - Team Tallon
Skip Wayne Tallon and his Fredericton Capital Winter Club team of Third Mike Kennedy, Second Mike Flannery, Lead Wade Blanchard, and Alternate Chuck Kingston achieved that lofty status winning the 2014 World Senior Men’s curling championship in Scotland. All five men achieved a degree of individual success in their own curling careers, but as a team they won a pair of New Brunswick Senior Men’s Championships, going through the Provincial Championship with a 6-0 record in 2013 to represent the New Brunswick at the National Championship in 2013. At the Canadian Championship event in Summerside, P.E.I., they compiled a 10-1 record and won the gold medal in impressive fashion, defeating Team Ontario 11-3. That earned them the right to represent Canada at the 24-team World Championships in Dumfries, Scotland. There they swept the title, finishing with an 11-0 record and cruising to a 7-2 final win over Team Sweden to finish on top of the world. The team was enrolled into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame, October 15, 2021.
