Reported by Jeff Wainwright
With their victory at the 2025 WFG Canadian Junior Cup in December, Huntley’s Team Frlan (Skip Katrina Frlan, Vice Erika Wainwright, Second Samantha Wall, and Lead Lauren Norman) earned the opportunity to travel to Arlesheim, Switzerland to represent their country as Team Canada at the Swiss Junior Cup from February 13–15.
After landing in Zurich at 10am CET, the team travelled with chaperone and driver Jackie Cowan to Basel where they would be hosted with a Swiss Curling billet. Shortly after settling in, Team Canada would travel to the Curlingzentrum in Arlesheim for some on-ice practice and stretching out after a long day of travel.
Over the next two days, the team met up with Swiss Curling Olympic Silver Medalist Manuela Kormann and host team Heinimann. They were treated to a chocolate factory tour and enjoyed a traditional Swiss cheese fondue dinner. The team did some sightseeing in Basel and a day trip to the capital city of Bern.
Friday morning, the team headed to Arlesheim to kick off the tourney, playing their first game at 11am CET against Swiss team Thun-Bern. The Huntley squad came out firing on all cylinders and with the score at 8-2 their opponents would concede after the 6th end, giving Team FRLAN their first international play win as Team Canada. They then played again at 7pm against team Dubendorf, where they earned their second win with a final score of 6-2.
The team would finish the round robin with a 3-0 record and were ranked second going into the playoff round. In the quarter-final match, Team Canada defeated team Schaffhausen-St. Gallen 8-2. The team faced a strong opponent in the semi-final playing against team Limmattal-Wetzikon. This was the same team skipped by Zoe Schwaller (sister of Xenia Schwaller) that travelled to Ottawa to compete in the OVCA Superspiel (where they were defeated by team Frlan in the final). The Swiss team came out looking for redemption but Team Canada would emerge victorious with a 5-4 win.
Team Canada were now off to the final to play for the gold medal against their host team (and now international friends!) Team Basel-Aarau (Heinimann). Both teams came to play and made some incredible shots (especially considering it was their third game of the day). After the completion of the 8th end it was the Swiss team that captured gold. Team Canada would earn a silver second place finish. In addition to a cash prize, the top three teams each received a huge wedge of gruyere swiss cheese. This was an incredible experience for Team Frlan, who considered it a a privilege and honour to represent Canada at an international competition.
