Airdrie's Sluchinski Rink will not be bringing home the hardware from the recent national 2024 Mixed Doubles Curling Championships in Fredericton.
Amanda and Aaron Sluchinski, the curling couple from Airdrie, were one of three mixed doubles teams to represent Alberta at the tournament. They finished with a 4-3 record in their pool.
Their road to championship glory was eventually stopped short by Sherwood Park’s Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres, who bested the Sluchinskis in a quarter final playoff game 7-6.
“It was a great game and a nice tight battle,” said Amanda Sluchinski. “I thought [Walker and Muyres] played great and I thought we had a really good game and yeah sometimes things [don’t] work out for you.”
The 2024 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championships was Amanda’s first curling event on the national stage.
“I thought it went pretty well,” Amanda admitted. “I personally have not had a lot of opportunities to play on arena ice and so that was a fun experience getting to play in an arena setting.”
While representing Alberta at a national curling event was a new experience for Amanda, Aaron just represented Alberta at the 2024 Montana’s Brier. Amanda said that Aaron’s familiarity with big sporting stages was a great help in getting the couple settled into the thrust of a championship atmosphere.
“Aaron is a little more familiar with [national events] but I thought we settled in well and found a groove and rattled off some good wins against some pretty good teams,” said Amanda, who added that she’s already looking forward to more opportunities to perform on curling’s biggest stages.
The 2023-2024 season marks the first time in several years that Amanda has curled competitively. In an interview with the Airdrie City View back in February, Amanda said that she took a break from curling to go back to school and raise their family.
Amanda admitted she wasn’t sure exactly what to expect heading into the championship showdown out east.
“I mean you expect ice conditions to be different, you're excepting to make adjustments," she explained. "You go in thinking you're gonna have to make an adjustment. I don't think you go in expecting to qualify, you go in hoping that you're gonna qualify and make the playoffs.”
“There is the lovely dynamic of working in a two person team where you're always trying to work things out and learning to communicate,” continued Amanda. “But I think Aaron and I were able to work through those as a team.”
Amanda said that playing as a couple helped her and Aaron in the competition.
"We've had many years to work on our communication skills so that helps,” Amanda said with a laugh. “We're like any other team out there, sometimes you get frustrated and you have to work through it.”
Although the Mixed Doubles Championship didn’t end the way they wanted, Amanda stated that the entire experience sparked a further competitive desire that she hopes her and Aaron will continue to pursue.
“It was amazing, it kind of ignites this drive within you, every game we played I thought, 'man it would be nice to win this',” she said. “You just have this burn to get back there and you have this competitive thing in you that says it would be great to get back there again…it was a great experience and I can't wait to get out there and keep doing well.”
