Rennie seeking junior curling three-peat

Off the ice, Jon Rennie is a relaxed guy, a guy you`d likely find in the headhouse chatting it up with friends, gossipping, and having a good time.

Jon Rennie in the hack, practicing for the Provincial Junior Curling Championships. (Photo by Sean Thompson).

When he steps on to the ice, though, his attitude changes. His focus  narrows to the painted circles on the other end of the surface. And if you can see his eyes as he steps into the hack, preparing to throw his stone, you can see a look of determination, a drive not just to make this shot but to make his side the best on the ice – even if he`s the only curler out there.

He`s won the last two New Brunswick Junior Curling Championships and but he doesn`t feel any extra pressure as he tries to skip his team to a third this week at Curling Beausejour in Moncton.

“There`s no extra pressure because it`s not my last year,” said Rennie, 19, referring to the age limit of 21. “There will be more pressure next year. But that (the championships) just makes us experienced.”

Experience is one thing Rennie certainly has plenty of. He skipped New Brunswick`s 2007 Canada Games team in Whitehorse and 2008 Junior Mens` Champions before his original team split up. Last year, he became mate of Ronnie Burgess`s Provincial Junior Championship team, a foursome that came within a game of the playoffs at Nationals.

This year, he`s back skipping a hand-picked but geographically diverse team. Although both he and mate Chris MacRae curl out of the Riverside club in Rothesay, second Andrew Perrin attends Mount Allison Univeristy in Sackville and lead Tyler Milligan lives in Oromocto. While the distance between teams makes it hard to practice together, Rennie says it`s not that important.

“We`re away at tournaments together almost every weekend,” he said. “Most teams don`t get together every weekend.”

Rennie also thinks his team`s chemistry will help.

“We get along well,” he said. “My teams haven`t gotten along well the last two years, so it`s a good change. It helps if you`re friends off the ice.”

Although the rink has qualified for the playoffs in nearly every event its entered this year, the friendship has led to only one tournament win, at the Howard Johnson`s Junior Cashspiel in PEI last month.

“We didn`t want to win early,” Rennie said. “We wanted to peak at the right time – the provincial championships. That`s what we`ve done the past couple of years.

“Nothing else matters but (Provincials).”

Rennie thinks the biggest threats to his team in the eight-team, triple-knockout event are the Andrew Trites rink from Sackville and Josh Barry`s team from the Fredericton and Riverside clubs.

`They`ve given my team trouble,” he said. Trites beat Rennie in the qualifying tournament and Rennie`s hasn`t beaten  Barry this season.

Rounding out the mens` field are Zac Blanchard from Thistle-St. Andrews in Saint John, Evan MacKnight and Dmitri Makrides from Fredericton`s Capital Winter Club, Josh Pye from Riverside, and Scott Babin from Dalhousie.

Ashley Howard during last year`s New Brunswick Junior Curling Championships. (Photo by Terry Sleep).

The ladies` side is lead by defending champion Ashley Howard from the Capital Winter Club. Jessica Daigle (Thistle-St. Andrews), Brittany Jeans, Tyler Parmiter (both from the Gage Curling Club, Oromocto), Jennifer Armstrong (Riverside), Cathlia Ward (Capital), Kaleigh Barry (Fredericton), and Sarah Ronalds (Beausejour).

The tournament begins Sunday with mens`draws at 1:30 and 8:30 and a ladies` draw at 5:00. The New Brunswick Beacon will have continuing coverage of the tournament including Wednesday`s championship games. This week`s winners will represent New Brunswick at the Canadian Junior Curling Championships in Sorel-Tracy, QC, January 16-24.

Rennie is ready for whatever may come this week.

“We feel like we`ve prepared the best we can,” he said. “Whatever is going to happen is going to happen.”

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Posted by Sean Thompson on Dec 27, 2009. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.