Photo: Emily Gray models the Team Canada jacket she will be wearing in Austria next January. She is the only Team Canada junior mixed curling team member from east of Manitoba.
(by Eric McCarthy)
MILBURN – For many young curlers, playing in the Canada Games would be the highlight of their junior careers.
Until last month that was the case for 17-year-old Emily Gray from Milburn, near O’Leary. Gray played second stone on Amanda MacLean’s Maple Leaf Curling Club rink that represented P.E.I. at the Canada Winter Games in February.
“The atmosphere was so much fun over there,” Gray said. “I met a lot of new friends. Hopefully, I will see them at nationals soon.”
While winning the right to represent P.E.I. at next year’s Canadian juniors is Team MacLean’s next big goal, Gray is already on the fast-track to an even greater curling milestone.
Two weeks ago, during the fifth-end break in the one-vs.-two Page playoff game of the world men’s curling championship in Regina, Sask., Team Canada’s curlers for next January’s 2012 Youth Winter Olympics in Innsbrook, Austria, were announced. Gray will play lead on Thomas Scoffin’s Canadian mixed junior team. She is the only player on the team from east of Manitoba.
“It was just amazing,” Gray said of the Regina experience.
She had known about her selection since the middle of March, but had to keep that quiet until the official introduction. The significance of her selection really started to sink in when she looked in the mirror with her team jacket on, and saw the Team Canada crest over her heart.
“It was actually kind of a surprise to see myself in the mirror wearing a Team Canada jacket, and it being mine,” she smiled.