Two Yukon teams are competing in the Everest Canadian Seniors Curling Championships in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario this week.

The Seniors runs from Dec. 6 to Dec. 11. The event features players 50 and older. The Yukon is sending a ladies' and mens' team to the event.

The ladies' team is skipped by Rhonda Horte. The third is Helen Strong, the second is Laura Wilson, and Corinne Delaire is throwing lead rocks.

The men are skipped by Terry Miller, fresh off playing in the Canadian Mixed Championships. Miller is joined by third Herb Balsam, second Doug Hamilton, and lead Don McPhee.

The Star sat down with the two skips prior to their games Thursday evening before they headed out to Sault St. Marie, Ontario.

How are they feeling before heading to the games?

“Good,” stated Horte. “Our ladies’ team, we’ve been doing lots of practices the last few months, so just kind of getting – honing in, so we’ll do the best that we can with the tools that we have. Looking forward to it.”

“We’re looking forward to representing the Yukon there and the boys were out throwin’ rocks while I was in Mixed (Championships),” said Miller. “We have one gentleman, our second (Doug Hamilton), he’s suffering a little bit from a knee injury, so he’s had to change his slide a bit, so he’s gonna go out there and do the best he can and hopefully we come out on top.

“Instead of playing a high-weight hit, he’ll have to adjust the broom for a lower weight. We’ll work around it.”

The competition this year is looking strong.

For the ladies, “there’s 14 teams and they’re broken down into two pools,” explained Horte. “In our pool we have Cheryl Bernard, from Alberta, who’s a silver medalist Olympian, and then we have Sherry Middaugh, whose had a lot of success as well, out of Ontario, so there will be some good competition, but ... we’ll just go out there, do the best we can, like Terry said, represent Yukon as best we can and see what happens.”

Miller added, “in our pool, we have the two latest senior champions ... we’ve played both the teams before and had very good games against them ... there’s definitely a lot of stiff competition, with a lot of Canadian and world champions throughout the whole event. There’s no easy games. You’ve gotta go out there and play your best every game.”

The teams play six games in the preliminary round. If they make the championship round, they play four more games.

“We expect to curl well,” stated Horte. “As far as outcomes, we’re not really focused on those. We’d like to beat our previous record when we were there two years ago.

“Out of the pools, we had three wins, but if we would have had one more, we could have been in the championship round.”

“For us, it’s obviously one game at a time, but the first goal is to make the championship round, and go from there,” explained Miller.

“The last time we lost out on a measurement to make the championship round, so we’re close. It’s just one or two shots away each game. That’s all it is. It can go either way ... you always look back, there’s one or two shots. If they went the other way, the game could be completely different. It’s just a matter of being consistent out there and making the right shot at the right time.”

Horte and Miller explained how they will be able to compete against strong competition.

“Just keeping the score close, and then, like Terry said, make the right shots at the right time. That’s really what it’s all about. Just making them – trying to keep the game simple and make them make tougher shots,” related Horte.

“Because we don’t get as many competitive games as a lot of teams do, it’s just a matter of limiting the mental mistakes. Everybody’s human, everybody’s gonna make mistakes, eliminating the mental mistakes is key,” said Miller.

“Whether a rock needs to be in front of the T-line, putting it behind the T-line and giving the other the team the out is definitely key to winning a lot of games. You can miss shots; you miss ‘em the right way, you’re ok; you miss ‘em the wrong way, that’s what kills you,” added Miller.

“We’ve all played enough – we don’t want to miss a shot, but there’s a right way to miss a shot and there’s a wrong way to miss a shot.”

When asked if there’s any particular strategy that they use, Horte joked, “We don’t want to give away our secrets.”

Miller responded, “You keep it as simple as possible, I think. If you need to be aggressive, we can be aggressive – we can play both styles of game, it just depends on the team you’re playing against, and the ice conditions. If it’s curling lots, you can be more aggressive, because there are a lot more shots that are available to make. If it’s very straight, you’re playing a lot of bumps and runbacks. A lot of it depends on the ice conditions.”

Both agreed that the style of play can also depend on the score. If you’re ahead, you can play more conservatively, but if you’re behind, you have to take more chances. But, according to Miller, there are many factors involved.

“Talking to the Northern Ontario team that was at the Mixed, they actually play in that club (in Sault Ste. Marie), and they told us it’s – they explained what the ice is like there and it sounds like it’s very close to being the same as what we’re used to here: three and a half, four feet of curl, fairly quick and – which most clubs are. Some clubs are a lot straighter than others. Depends on the rocks and the ice surface.”

It sounds like conditions Horte and Miller are used to.

“That’d be perfect,” exclaimed Miller.

“Our teams have quite a bit of experience so ... it depends on when we get there, what the ice condition and the rocks are doing, we will be able to adapt quicker than the opposition,” said Horte.

Miller recalled “we were at the Mixed. We were throwing practice rocks and it’s curling 10 feet. It’s like we’re wasting our time throwing practice rocks ... it did calm down. Because what they do normally before a big competition is they sharpen the rocks, which means they curl a bit more. So they’ll obviously be doing that again. It calms down so it’s not curling 10 or 12 feet. If it’s curling six feet, we can work it all out.”

The skips are no stranger to the seniors. Horte will be playing in her second Seniors. It was canceled in 2020 due to COVID.

Both Miller and Horte’s teams won the 2020 play downs, so would have represented the Yukon in 2020 had they been given the opportunity.

Miller says he will be throwin’ them in his fourth or fifth Seniors. He’s been in the event the last four years, not counting 2020.

Speaking of COVID, some social events at the Seniors have been cancelled, but it looks like the curling will be going ahead.

As for how they feel about representing the Yukon, “we’re honoured to be able to do it, so we’re just really looking forward to it,” said Horte.

“It’s a privilege every time to be able to put on the Yukon jacket, for sure,” agreed Miller. “Coming from B.C., I tried for many many years – went once to a national. Coming up here, I appreciate it that we’re able to go, and it’s just a dream come true to be able to go to events like this. Not only for the curling, but to meet the people and see old friends from the years gone by where you played competitive, cash-spiels and whatnot.

“I’m riding high every time I get on that plane. I try to keep myself calm and when I get on that plane is, like, when the adrenalin starts flowing.”

Update: Team Horte (1-0) got off to a good start by beating Team New Brunswick (Comeau) 7-4 in a very early morning game that started at 6:30 am Eastern time. The Horte rink scored two in the second and three in the fourth to take a commanding 5-1 lead. They added two more in the sixth following a New Brunswick single in the fifth to extend their lead to 7-2. The Comeau rink scored two more in the seventh end to make the final score 7-4 in seven ends.

Team Miller (0-1), meanwhile, fell 7-4 to Team Alberta (White). Team Yukon was leading 4-3 going into the seventh end, but gave up three and the lead in the seventh. Team White added a single in the eighth to round out the scoring. Miller's rink has a chance to bounce back this afternoon against Team Nunavut (Mackey) at 2 p.m. Eastern time.