North York native Greg Balsdon, who won two provincial boys high school championships when he attended Don Mills Collegiate, is heading to the Tim Hortons Brier in Kamloops March 1 to 9.
Balsdon skipped his Hamilton-based team to the Travelers Tankard Ontario men’s curling championship in Smith Falls the previous weekend.
Balsdon finally managed to do what no other curler in Ontario has been able to do in eight previous years – knock off Glenn Howard in the championship game.
In fact, in one of those previous championship games in 2011, it was Balsdon that lost to Howard 10-3.
Balsdon had been knocking on the door for a while with this year marking his seventh appearance in the ultra-competitive provincial men’s championships – and in six of those appearances he has qualified for the playoff round (once with skip John Base).
"It’s a dream come true," said Balsdon, in a phone interview.
He grew up in the area of Leslie and Lawrence area curling out of the now-closed Avonlea Curling Club in Don Mills. His parents still live in the area.
He got involved in the sport, he explained, because his father, a now retired math teacher at Don Mills Collegiate, also coached the curling team.
While still in grade school, Balsdon said "I used to meet him over at the club because I was too young to be on my own. So Fridays I would just go over to Avonlea, meet him up at the club, do my homework, or whatever. One day I just asked him, hey, can I try this. He said, sure, let’s go."
In Sunday’s championship game, Balsdon hung on for a nailbiting 6-5 win that came down to an uncharacteristic miss by Howard on the final shot, allowing Balsdon to steal.
"It was really tight," conceded Balsdon.
It was actually the rubber match between the two teams at the championship: the Balsdon-skipped rink had finished atop the round robin standings at 8-2 including a 5-3 win over Howard (who finished second at 7-3).
The so-called ‘page system’ playoff format had the top two teams play for direct entry to the final with Howard winning that game 8-4.
That forced Balsdon into the semifinal which he won 9-6 over Bryan Cochrane.
The team was actually curling under Mark Bice’s name as Balsdon was unable to compete in regional and zone competitions due to a rib injury. Other members are Tyler Morgan, Steve Bice and Jamie Farnell.
Balsdon is now the curling professional at Glendale Golf and Country Club in Hamilton, where his team is based out of.
Asked how he will prepare for the national championship, he said, with a laugh: "practice."
"I’m actually going to talk to a couple of guys who have been there before. Give me some pointers on some little things I may not expect or think of."
He now has quite the collection of provincial championship honours. Besides his two Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association (OFSAA) championships he won for Don Mills Collegiate in 1994 and 1995 he also won the provincial junior mixed championship in 1996 and the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association championship for Mohawk College in Hamilton in 1998.
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