Amanda Gates

Amanda Gates (born March 26, 1986 in Sudbury, Ontario) is a Canadian curler who currently plays lead on Team Krysta Burns and coaches the Kerry Galusha rink.[1] Gates used to play with Team Tracy Fleury (née Horgan) and in 2015, Team Horgan became the first women's team in the history of women's curling to represent Northern Ontario at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.[2] In Gates' first appearance at the Scotties (2012 in Red Deer, Alberta), she won the Marj Mitchell Sportsmanship Award.

Amanda Gates
Curler
Born (1986-03-26) March 26, 1986
Sudbury, Ontario
Team
Curling clubIdylwylde G&CC,
Sudbury, ON
SkipKrysta Burns
ThirdMegan Smith
SecondSara Guy
LeadAmanda Gates
Career
Member Association Northern Ontario
Hearts appearances3 (2012, 2015, 2018)
Top CTRS ranking7th (2015–16, 2016–17)

Curling career

Bantams and juniors 2002–2007

Gates began her bantam curling career representing Northern Ontario at the 2002 Ontario Winter Games in Guelph, Ontario. Gates went to play lead for the Team Horgan rink, who went on to represent Northern Ontario at the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Canadian Junior Curling Championships. Their best finish was a tie for third place in 2006.[3] Gates skipped a high school team to a city championship in 2004.[4] Gates also joined the Laurentian University Varsity curling team in 2009 where Laurentian took a bronze medal at University Nationals in Montreal, Quebec.[5]

Women's 2008 to 2018

As a member of Team Horgan, continuing to play in the lead position, Gates competed in the 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Ontario Scotties before breaking through in 2012 and defeating Rachel Homan to represent Ontario at the 2012 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Red Deer, Alberta. At this first appearance, they finished with a 4–7 record.[6] At this event, Gates won the Marj Mitchell Sportsmenship award.[7] During the 2012–13 season, although Team Horgan was unsuccessful at the Ontario Scotties, they did win the AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic.[8] Due to their success in the previous season, they secured a berth at the 2013 Road to the Roar Olympic pre-trials, where they lost to Val Sweeting in the C final.[9] Shortly after the pre-trials, Team Horgan went undefeated at the Northern Ontario Scotties and advance to the 2014 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts where they failed to make play offs.

At the end of December 2013, Team Horgan was selected to represent Canada at the Yichun International Ladies Cup in Yichun, Heilongjiang, China. They went 6 and 1 in the round robin, defeating Wang Bingyu in the semis and then defeating Jian Yilun in the final to win the championship.[10] The 2014–15 season proved very successful for Team Horgan. The team finished first at both the 2014 DeKalb Superspiel[11] and the Curl Mesabi Classic.[12]

At the 2015 Northern Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Team Horgan became the first team to have a chance to represent Northern Ontario at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.[13] They went undefeated in the provincials and won a spot in the first ever relegation round. They defeated Kerry Galusha's Northwest Territories rink in the relegation final to secure a spot in the main event. During the 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Team Horgan entered the final draw of the round robin with a record of 6–4, tied with Team Homan whom they faced in this final draw. Fleury was not successful and finished 5th after round robin play, just out of play-offs. With the addition of Crystal Webster, to form a five-person team, Gates continued to play with the now renamed team, Team Fleury, for the 2015–16 season. As a result of the teams finish after the 2014–15 season, Team Fleury secured a spot at the 2015 Canada Cup of Curling in Grande Prairie, Alberta where they finished with a record of 1–5.[14] On the slam tour, Team Fleury competed in the 2015 GSOC Tour Challenge Slam where they made it to semi-finals; The Masters Slam, where they did not qualify, 2015 The National where they made it to the final against Rachel Homan and the 2015 Canadian Open of Curling Slam where they qualified and finished 5th. They were not successful at the 2016 Northern Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Timmins, Ontario, losing the final to Krista McCarville's Thunder Bay rink. The team's success this season left them in seventh spot in the Canadian Team Ranking System.[15]

The next season, the team failed again to win the Northern Ontario Scotties, losing once again to McCarville at the 2017 Northern Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts. On the World Curling Tour, the team made it to the quarterfinals in three Grand Slam events. They won one tour event, The Sunova Spiel at East St. Paul.

The team qualified for the 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Pre-trials, but finished last in their group. The team finally won another provincial championship at the 2018 Northern Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts. The team represented Northern Ontario at the 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, where they made the playoffs, but lost in the 3 vs. 4 game to Nova Scotia. Later that season, Gates teamed up with Thunder Bay's Trevor Bonot to win the Northern Ontario Mixed Doubles championship. Following the 2017–18 season, the Fleury team announced they would be breaking-up.[16]

2018–2019

Gates would stay with teammate Jenna Enge who moved up to play skip and would add Oye-Sem Won Briand and Tracy Auld to play third and second respectively. The team played in the 2018 Tour Challenge Tier 2 and finished with a record of 1–3, missing the playoffs. Team Enge played in the 2019 Northern Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts making it all the way to the final but would lose to rival Krista McCarville 8–7.

2019–2020

Gates joined the young team of Krysta Burns, Megan Smith and Sara Guy to compete in the 2020 Northern Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts in 2019. The team did play in one tour event together prior to provincials, the Part II Bistro Ladies Classic where they finished 1–3. Team Burns finished 5–1 through the round robin of provincials defeating Abby Deschene, 9–4, Laura Johnston, 10–6, and Amanda Gebhardt, 9–6, before losing 9–4 to Krista McCarville, following up their last two round robin games with wins over Camille Daly, 8–3, and Team Croisier, 8–1. They defeated Laura Johnston again in the semifinal 7–5 and met undefeated McCarville in the final. It was a tight final with singles being traded back and forth most of the game before McCarville cracked two in the ninth to go ahead 6–4. Team Burns attempted a difficult shot for two on their final shot but were unsuccessful, the final score being 6–5.

Mixed

Gates plays lead on Team Koivula, a mixed curling rink from the Fort William Curling Club out of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The team represented Northern Ontario at the 2016 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship in Toronto, Ontario where they secured a bronze medal. Gates won first all-star lead at the event.[17]

Personal life

Gates works as a commercial account manager for Cambrian Insurance. Her sister is Jennifer Gates.[1]

References
  1. "2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Media Guide" (PDF). Curling Canada. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-11-25. Retrieved 2016-05-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. http://www.curling.ca/championships/achives%5B%5D
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2018-10-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Sudbury Sports".
  6. "CBC Sports - Olympics".
  7. "Heather Nedohin named MVP at 2012 Scotties Tournament of Hearts". Canadian Curling Association. 26 February 2012
  8. "AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic".
  9. http://www.curling.ca/2013roadtheroar%5B%5D
  10. "Curling Canada | Happy New Year for Canada in China".
  11. "MCT Dekalb SuperSpiel".
  12. "Curl Mesabi Classic".
  13. "Curling Canada | Northern Ontario clinches Scotties berth".
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-10-04. Retrieved 2016-05-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "Curling Canada | 2015-2016 CTRS Standings – Women".
  16. "Team Fleury going separate ways after season". 2018-02-13.
  17. "Curling Canada | Curling Scores on Curling.ca".
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