Augustana Vikings Curler Colton Simard
by ACAC Sports Writer Curtis J. Phillips
"There's gold in them thar hills?" is a quote sometimes attributed to the California gold rush of 1849.
"There's gold in them thar rinks?" could be a quote attributed to the Simard family of Chauvin, Alberta.
A village in east central Alberta, with a population of 335, it is home of Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) curlers Colton Simard of University of Alberta Augustana Vikings and Ashton Simard of MacEwan University Griffins.
Colton, a fourth-year student/athlete (Computing Science) at the Camrose-based school, said he "picked up curling" in Grade 9 at the suggestion of his father.
"To be honest, I decided to quit hockey because I wasn't very good at it," said Simard, 23. "Plus, for my last year of hockey, we had to drive 30-to-40 minutes several times a week for practice and games to Provost. It was a lot of travel and I was playing with people that I did not grow up with and I did not enjoy it that much."
Simard added that the change-over from hockey to curling was an easy one.
"The transition was quick," recalls Colton. "Growing up playing hockey, you thought curling was just the other sport that was played on ice and that no one talked about. But Chauvin was a curling heavy town."
From Grade 10-12, he skipped the Dr. Folkins Community High School Cavaliers mixed team, leading them to an Alberta Schools Athletic Association (ASAA) gold medal in his final year.
A few years later his sister Ashton would lead the Cavaliers women's curling team to ASAA gold.
Their father Todd has also swept his way to gold in ASAA provincial curling.
Not to achieve such status is their mother Tanya with a possibility remaining for younger brother Jayden.
"We bug mom and Jayden that they don't have a gold medal," said Simard. "As a family we talk about curling all the time. "
Playing third for the Vikings men's team for his fourth consecutive year, Simard was part of the Vikings foursome that won the ACAC men's curling banner last year by edging the NAIT Ooks 5-4 in the final.
They would advance to the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Curling Championships of which they hosted.
The best finish Simard has seen in CCAA competition to date was a bronze medal in 2016.
It was in London, Ontario that the Vikings nipped Fanshawe College Falcons 7-6 and Fleming College Knights 9-3 in tiebreakers to reach the podium.
Gold would go to Humber College Hawks and silver to Sault College Cougars.
"If I could do it again this weekend, I would without hesitation," said Simard of the CCAA experience, which aside from a trip to London, Ontario and home ice, included a quick trip to Olds, Alberta for the 2015 CCAA finals. "It is very tiring because you curl three games-a-day for 10 ends and it is exhausting. I am incredibly proud of the other three guys and how hard we worked for it."
A fan of former NAIT Ooks curler Kevin Martin, a four-time World Champion and two-time Olympian, Simard concludes in saying that he "thinks curling is an incredible sport.
"You walk in with three other guys and curl as a team and afterwards, there is never any bad blood between you or between the other teams and players. There is no person that you do not want to talk to, where in other sports, there are rivalries that are harmful more than helping. It is still competitive but it is more of a community social type of thing."
ACAC Curling Fall Regionals take place November 24-26,2 017 at St. Paul Curling Club and hosted by Portage College Voyageurs.