(Submitted phpto/Brian Kjelshus)

By Ben Tompkins

Team of the Year

Melfort Special Olympics curling team wins gold in Yukon

Nov 29, 2024 | 12:01 PM

The Melfort Special Olympics curling team has gold medals in their hands, once again.

The Lakeland Melfort team was invited to Whitehorse, Yukon this past weekend as part of a four-team, four-province battle.

Dubbed the Whitehorse McDonald’s Curling Invitational, the weekend tournament saw the host team and Melfort, plus a team from Ontario and B.C.

Melfort beat the host team pretty handily in the final as they continued to win following their National Gold in Calgary back in March.

“Our trip to Yukon was good, none of us had ever been to the territories and everyone there was so accommodating,” said Melfort team coach, Brian Kjelshus. “I’m not entirely sure how we got to be a part of this invitational, but we had seen the Yukon team back in Calgary, and this tournament didn’t have a Saskatchewan team last year, so I guess it just worked out.”

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The gold medal in Whitehorse also capped off a pretty solid last month for Melfort as they were named Team of the Year for Canada at the start of November in Toronto.

The honour from Special Olympics Canada came with rings, along with a gala and ceremony.

(Submitted photo/Brian Kjelshus)

(Submitted photo/Brian Kjelshus)

“Cheryl Bernard walked on stage with us and we had pictures with Jennifer Hedger and Luke Wilson from TSN. It was a pretty fun night because I don’t think any of us are used to being in a room where waiters are walking around with trays of hors d’oeuvres and if you want one you can just take one,” Kjelshus added.

Up next for Melfort is a couple of bonspiels around the province this winter.

Unfortunately, it has also been confirmed that there won’t be a World Championship to begin next year, which Melfort would’ve secured a berth in.

Kjelshus, however, has hope for 2029.

“We’re really hoping it goes in 2029 because anyone in any sport would want to go to a world championship if they could. It’d just be like climbing Mount Everest because you can’t go any higher.”

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ben.tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

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