Gaudet breakup leaves fans
guessing
Coach
hopeful team will eventually resolve differences
National
Post
When
word emerged recently that the Suzanne Gaudet rink
had split mid-season and without explanation, curling fans wanted to know what
had happened.
Gaudet, 22, and second Robin MacPhee, 21, had won the Canadian junior title together
twice, as well as a world junior championship. Last year, when they joined the
women's ranks, they added older sister Rebecca Jean MacPhee,
29, at vice and Susan McInnis, 39, at lead. They won the P.E.I. women's
championship in their first attempt.
They
glided through the round robin at the Scott Tournament of Hearts with a 10-1
record but faltered in the playoffs, losing to five-time Scott champion Colleen
Jones and
The
team is mum on the reasons. Their coach, Paul Power, said it was personal and
that the players needed to go their separate ways for "some time to cool
off." He remains hopeful that the team might reconcile some day.
"They
are not speaking about it publicly," Power said from Summerside,
P.E.I. "There's still potential there to get back together again and play,
but not this year. To talk about it too much might burn bridges."
Gaudet has picked up three
veterans to play with her and Susan McInnis, who has moved from lead to third.
The new members broke from the Shelley Bradley team least year: Janice MacCallum, who is playing second; Tricia MacGregor at lead and fifth Nancy Cameron. Power remains
coach and the team will play together for the first time this weekend in a
local bonspiel.
Rebecca
Jean MacPhee is now skipping her own team and has
picked up Shelly Muzika, who formerly played lead for
Kathie Gallant.
Some
think the breakup is a good thing and may be a sign that curling is coming of
age.
"Curling
should be treated more like professional sports. When someone is not performing
on a team, pull them," said
Power
insists the breakup of the Gaudet team was not at all
performance-related.
It
is unusual for a team to split in mid-season, especially one as successful as Gaudet's. And when it does happen, it is often because of
work commitments.
Kevin
Park's
Another
woman curler who has experienced a messy team break-up in mid-season, albeit
under completely different circumstances, is
After
losing the final of the 1994 Scott Tournament of Hearts to the late Sandra Schmirler, the team was headed to the Scott again after
winning the 1995
The
next year, Purdy was supposed to be back on the Laliberte
team. They started off the year together but she was unceremoniously dumped by Laliberte in November at a meeting at their club.
"It
was simply Connie saying, 'I'd like to make a team change. I want Cathy Overton
to play and I prefer to curl with Cathy.' And that was all it was," Purdy
said over the weekend, speaking publicly about the split for the first time.
"There
were few words. There wasn't much for me to say. The decision was already
made."
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