By Ben Hoppe
The idea for the GSOC Military Invitational all started with a social media post and an 11-hour drive.
Quinn Gonzalez, then a Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy, saw a promotion calling for applications to get tickets to the TCG All-Star Game this past summer. He submitted an application explaining why his USNA team deserved to attend the event and was ultimately selected. His team left at 4 a.m. from Annapolis, Md., to make the 11-hour trek to Nashville.
Their dedication caught the eye of The Curling Group CEO and co-founder Nic Sulsky. The two talked at the All-Star Game, and Gonzalez shared that there are a lot of military members who curl. With that, the idea of the first-ever GSOC Military Invitational was born.
The inaugural event is being held in Lake Tahoe this weekend ahead of Monday’s Remembrance Day in Canada and Veterans Day in the United States.
“We're trying to grow the sport, and the grassroots evolution of the sport is vital,” Sulsky said. “One of the things that makes this Grand Slam season different from the others is we’re doing two Tier 2s, we did (the Junior GSOC), and the idea of doing the Military Invitational kind of fit perfectly.”
Five teams made the trek to Lake Tahoe for this special event, with initial draws held at Lake Tahoe Epic Curling and the final on the Slam ice in the Tahoe Blue Event Center arena.
Ahead of the bonspiel, the curlers were invited to a meet and greet led by Reid Carruthers where they were introduced to Emma Miskew, Niklas Edin, as well as Jared Allen’s team.
Allen, who had a number of family members in the military, has spent a lot of his time off the ice and football field working with and supporting veterans. He and his team spent a significant amount of time before Thursday’s evening draw connecting with the military curlers.
After the meet and greet, everyone headed over to Lake Tahoe Epic curling, where they had the opportunity to hone their skills with some of the game’s great advocates, Team Einarson and their coach, Carruthers.
Carruthers always makes time to give back to the curling community by teaching clinics at events throughout the season, usually working with junior curlers. This time, he is selflessly giving his time back to people who have made their own selfless decisions to serve their countries.
“My grandpa was in the army, and I’ve had high school friends that are in the army,” Carruthers reflected. “So it hits close to home. This is the least I could do.”
FIVE TEAMS IN ACTION
The teams feature current and former military members alike from a variety of branches.
Two teams are made up of U.S. Navy curlers, Gonzalez’s team of U.S. Navy officers from Pensacola, Fla., and a team of Midshipmen from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis.
One Air Force team from Minot, N.D., and another team made up of members of multiple branches (Marines, Army National Guard, Navy, and Air Force) are also taking the ice for the United States.
Canada’s team is made up of members of the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian Army. They organized the trip to Tahoe to participate after a call for additional teams just a couple of weeks before the event.
Gonzalez has been curling for 10 years and started the US Naval Academy team. After graduating this past spring, he and his team will get to play again together while the USNA is being represented by Midshipmen participating in the program he began with the help of his teammates.
The pride Gonzalez has for the program continuing is clear.
"That might be one of, if not the most, rewarding things to me, because when I started this, I knew I could convince a couple of my friends to come out and try it on the ice a few times," he said. "I was really hoping a handful of them would stick with it, and more than that did.”
His goals for the program were twofold: build a program that sustains itself after he is gone and make it to the USA’s collegiate national championship.
To say that it was a success might be an understatement. The USNA curling program had more than 10 people graduate last year, including Gonzalez, and it still boasts numbers in the double-digits. His team also placed sixth at the USA Curling College National Championship last season.
It’s only been six months since Gonzalez and his U.S. Naval Academy team made that 11-hour drive to Nashville, but it has been a period filled with memories for the Navy graduate. In Nashville, the team participated in an on-ice clinic led by Chris Plys and Matt Hamilton, and this week, they found themselves getting coached by one of the best teams in the world in Team Einarson and one of the best clinicians in the world in Carruthers.
Now, not only does Gonzalez leave behind a legacy at the U.S. Naval Academy to go along with experiences that have created core memories, but he and Nic Sulsky have created a partnership that could create new traditions.
Sulsky noted he wants to do this again in the future and hopes to have the participation of 10 or more teams.
As for this week? Bragging rights are on the line.
“Almost all the branches are being represented,” said the Navy officer. “Then it's also Canadian and American teams, so we've got the international bragging rights, and we've got the inner-service within-the-States bragging rights, so a lot on the line for that.”
THE DREAM SCENARIO
While the United States boasts rivalries between military branches across all college athletics, Canada’s rivalries come between bases. With the prevalence of curling in Canada, curlers (and access to curling ice) are common, and teams on different bases will compete with each other.
Historically, there had been a national championship for these teams, but a lack of funding has prevented that in recent years. While regional championships have continued, members of the Canadian team are involved in efforts to try and bring the national event back in the near future.
Chris Chartrand, a member of the Canadian team, considers himself to be pretty low-key and tries to keep the pressure off himself and his team. Once he took the ice for that first draw, though, the competitive juices kicked in.
"I’d love to be able to win every game we can and play the best we can," Chartrand said.
If they can make it to Sunday, they’ll have the opportunity to play on the Slam ice in the arena ahead of the men’s and women’s finals.
“That would be a dream, for sure,” said Chartrand.
To get to the arena, Chartrand and Gonzalez will have to lead their respective teams to victories against the other competing teams at the two-sheet curling club, Lake Tahoe Epic Curling, just down the street from the Slam. The teams have spent time watching the Slam in the arena, and some of those teams are returning the favor.
John Morris and Wayne Middaugh attended the first draw at the curling club. Meanwhile, Carruthers was texting over to the club during Team Einarson’s pre-game practice on Friday, asking for score updates and wanting a play-by-play of Gonzalez's double to hang a score of five in the fifth end.
SPIRIT OF THE GAME
The spirit of curling and the community of the sport are being displayed in full force, and the curlers are embracing the opportunity to get together.
"To be able to have this chance to travel around the world and curl and meet all these different people and different services, it really helps connect our countries and our services together,” Chartrand shared. “I’m just happy to represent Canada and be able to meet all these great American service members.”
This is the first GSOC Military Invitational, but these grassroots efforts make a big difference. They grow the game and give developmental opportunities to military curlers, some of whom have limited access to ice, and Gonzalez noted this opportunity exhibits the amazing values the military and curlers both embody.
The armed forces and the sport of curling are both steeped in tradition. On a weekend where the best of curling are being highlighted and military veterans are being honoured, the best of both worlds were on display after hard-fought battles for military curlers. And these battles finished with drinks and stories being shared around a table in the cozy, warm room of a curling club.
