Jennifer Gates

Jennifer "Jen" Gates (born April 22, 1990)^[1][2] is a Canadian curler. Gates is a two-time Canadian University Champion. She currently plays lead for Team Kelsey Rocque and they curl out of the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton, Alberta.

Career

Bantam and junior curling

During her bantam and junior curling years, Gates played on Team Lilly (formerly Team Maloney) out of the Idylwylde Curling Club in Sudbury, Ontario. The team represented Northern Ontario at the 2004 Ontario Winter Games in London, Ontario.^[3] The team remained together and represented Northern Ontario at the Canadian Junior Curling Championships in 2009, 2010 and 2011, where Gates played in the second position. The team's best finish was in 2010 in Sorel-Tracey, Quebec where they finished round robin with a record of 9 and 3 and went on to take a bronze medal at the event.^[4]

University

In 2009, Gates curled out of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario where the team played to a bronze medal at the CIS Canadian Curling Championship in Montreal, Quebec.^[5]

In 2011, Gates attended Sir Wilfred Laurier University, where she played second on the varsity curling team. The Laurier Golden Hawks, which included her current teammate Laura Crocker, went on to win two consecutive national university titles (2011 and 2012). Their win in 2012 gave them the opportunity to represent Canada at the 2013 Winter Universiade which was held in Trentino, Italy. They did not make the playoffs in this event ^[6]

The teams win in 2011 gave them the opportunity to represent Canada at the 2012 Karuizawa International Curling Championship in Karuizawa, Japan. They secured a gold medal at this event defeating Switzerland's Team Tirinzoni in the final.

Women's curling : 2012 to present

Gates, together with teammates Laura Crocker and Sarah Wilkes, moved to Edmonton and began training out of the Saville Sports and Community Centre. With the addition of Rebecca Pattison, Team Crocker was formed. They had a successful 2012-2013 season finishing eighth on the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS)^[7] Team Crockers CTRS ranking gave them a spot at the 2013 Road to the Roar Olympic pre-trials in Kitchener, Ontario.^[8] The team made player changes in both the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. In the 2015-16 season, a player change was made and Kelsey Rocque joined the team at the skip position. On the World Curling Tour, Team Rocque were champions in the Red Deer Classic defeating Switzerland's Alina Paetz ^[9] and defeated Switzerland's Sylvana Tirinzoni to take the gold medal at the CCT Uiseong Masters in Korea.^[10] Through the Grand Slam tour, Team Rocque qualified for play-offs in both the GSOC Tour Challenge Tier 1 and in The National. They participated in the Meridian Open but failed to qualify.

The team's performance in the previous season qualified them for a spot at the Canada Cup of Curling in Grande Prairie, Alberta where they finished with a record of 2 and 4.^[11]

Personal

Gates is completing her degree in Communications and works at the Saville Sports and Community Centre in customer service.

References