Darren Moulding

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Darren Moulding
Curler
Moulding Meridian Canadian Open.jpg
Moulding at the 2019 Canadian Open
Born (1982-12-02) December 2, 1982 (age 39)
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Team
Curling clubSaville Community SC,
Edmonton, AB
,
Lacombe, AB[1]
SkipJames Grattan
ThirdDarren Moulding
SecondPaul Dobson
LeadAndy McCann / Jamie Brannen
Mixed doubles
partner		Joanne Courtney
Career
Member Association Alberta
 New Brunswick (2022)
Brier appearances5 (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021)
World Championship
appearances		1 (2021)
Top CTRS ranking1st (2018–19)
Grand Slam victories3 (2019 Canadian Open, 2019 Players', 2019 Champions Cup)
Medal record
Men's Curling
Representing  Alberta
Tim Hortons Brier
Gold medal – first place 2021 Calgary
Silver medal – second place 2018 Regina
Silver medal – second place 2020 Kingston
Representing Alberta Team Wild Card
Tim Hortons Brier
Silver medal – second place 2019 Brandon

Darren Moulding (born December 2, 1982) is a Canadian curler from Lacombe, Alberta[2] and curls out of the Saville Sports Centre and the .[3] He is a former Canadian Junior Silver Medallist, a Canadian Mixed Champion, and represented Alberta in the 2017, 2018, 2020 and Team Wild Card in the 2019 Brier Canadian men's championship.

Curling career[]

Junior[]

Moulding skipped the Alberta team at both the 2000 and 2003 Canadian Junior Curling Championships. At the 2000 Juniors, he led his team of , Ryan Inaba and to a 5-7 record, missing the playoffs. At the 2003 Juniors, he led his rink of Brock Virtue, Taylor and to a silver medal finish. The team finished the round robin with an 8-4 record, the proceeded to win the tiebreaker match and the semifinal before losing to Saskatchewan (skipped by Steve Laycock) in the final.

Men's[]

After juniors, Moulding formed his own team to play on the World Curling Tour. He played in his first Grand Slam of Curling event when he was invited to play third for Steve Laycock at the 2006 Masters of Curling, where they failed to qualify for the playoffs. Moulding found little success skipping on the tour, failing to win a single event before he joined the Steve Petryk rink in 2009. He played one full season with Petryk, finding little success with him either. Moulding began skipping his own team again in 2010, but did not play in many events for the next few seasons.

In 2013, Moulding joined the Matthew Blandford rink has his third. That season, Moulding won his first career tour event, when the rink won the McKee Homes Fall Curling Classic. The next season, the team played in Moulding's second career Slam event, the 2014 National, where they won two games. Later in the season, Moulding was invited to play for his former junior teammate Brock Virtue's team at the Black Diamond / High River Cash event, which they won. For the 2015-16 season, Virtue joined the Blandford rink as skip, moving Moulding to play second. The team would not win any events. Virtue left the rink at the end of the season.

In 2017, Moulding was asked to join the Brendan Bottcher rink mid-season, replacing Pat Simmons (at third) who was suffering from an injury.[4] The announcement was just in time for Moulding to play in the 2017 Meridian Canadian Open Grand Slam event. The new lineup found immediate success, making the quarterfinals of the event. The next month, the team would win the 2017 Boston Pizza Cup, the Alberta men's provincial championship. The win would be Moulding's first provincial title, sending him to his first ever Tim Hortons Brier. At the Brier, the team finished with a 3-8 record, missing the playoffs. Moulding and Team Botcher qualified for the 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials (held from December 2 to 10 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario) by winning one of the two pre-trials spots at the Home Hardware Road to the Roar Pre-Trials on November 6 to 12 in Summerside, Prince Edward Island.[5]

Team Bottcher qualified as Team Alberta for the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier, held from March 3 to 11, 2018 at the Brandt Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan. The team had a 6-1 round robin record, and had to fight through the 3 vs. 4 game beating Brad Jacobs (Northern Ontario) and John Epping (Ontario) in the semifinals in the playoffs to make it to the final, where they would lose to Brad Gushue of Team Canada 6 to 4.[6]

2018 Team Bottcher won the Canad Inns Men's Classic beating Team Koe in the finals with a score of 7-5. The team came in second to Brad Jacobs losing in the finals at the Grand Slam of Curling 2018 Tour Challenge.

In 2019 he would win his 1st Grand Slam of Curling titles at the Meridian Canadian Open with an 6-3 win over Team Epping, in April The Players Championship with a 6-1 win over Team Koe and again in the Champions Cup with another 6-5 win over Team Koe. Earlier in the year. Team Bottcher would win the 2019 Pinty's All-Star Curling Skins Game, the team winning $54,500.

At the 2019 Tim Hortons Brier (held from March 2 to 10 at Westoba Place in Brandon, Manitoba), Team Bottcher played their way into the main draw by winning the wildcard game over Team Epping (Ontario) and then went 8-3 in the round-robin, making the playoffs for the second straight year. The team was 8-3 in the Championship Pool. Beating Brad Gushue (Team Canada) and then Team Jacobs (Northern Ontario) in the semifinals in the playoffs to make it to the final for the second straight year. In the finals, Team Wildcard 4–3 was defeated by Kevin Koe of Team Alberta.

Moulding, of Team Wild Card was the 2019 winner of The Ross Harstone Sportsmanship Award. The trophy is presented each year to the player chosen by his peers as the curler in the Brier who best represents Ross Harstone's high ideals of good sportsmanship, observance of the rules, exemplary conduct and curling ability.[7]

Team Bottcher began their 2019–20 season at the 2019 AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic where they lost the tiebreaker to Yannick Schwaller. In Grand Slam play, they had quarterfinal finishes at the Masters and the National, a semifinal finish at the Tour Challenge and missed the playoffs at the Canadian Open. They had a semifinal finish at the 2019 Canada Cup after losing to eventual winners John Epping. After losing the semifinal to Kevin Koe at provincials the previous season, Team Bottcher would win the 2020 Boston Pizza Cup with a draw to the button to defeat Karsten Sturmay 7–6. For the third year in a row, they would finish runner-up at the Brier, this year to Brad Gushue. It would be the team's last event of the season as both the Players' Championship and the Champions Cup Grand Slam events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8]

Team Bottcher played in three tour events during the 2020–21 season, winning the ATB Okotoks Classic and reaching the semifinals at both the ATB Banff Classic and the Ashley HomeStore Curling Classic. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta, the 2021 provincial championship was cancelled. As the reigning provincial champions, Team Bottcher was chosen to represent Alberta at the 2021 Tim Hortons Brier.[9] At the Brier, they finished second in their pool during round-robin play, with a 6–2 record. In the championship pool they improved their record to 9–3, earning the third seed in the playoffs where they defeated Matt Dunstone's Team Saskatchewan in the semifinals to make it to their fourth Brier finals in a row.[10] Team Bottcher defeated four-time Brier champion Kevin Koe in the finals, with a score of 4–2, to win their first Brier championship.[11] With the Brier win, Team Bottcher earned the right to represent Canada at the 2021 World Men's Curling Championship. There, the team led Canada to a 9–4 round robin record, in fourth place. This put them into the playoffs in a game against Scotland, skipped by Bruce Mouat, which they lost, eliminating the team.[12]

After Team Bottcher had a poor performance at the 2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials (finishing with a 3–5 record), Moulding was cut from the team. His cut caused controversy, as the team stated on social media that he was leaving the team for "personal reasons", in which Moulding replied was "complete BS". Moulding stated that a rift with his teammates began the previous season while in the Calgary curling bubble, when he "challenged Bottcher on issues that he felt were important (to the team)". This included a "better business structure", suggesting that he wanted an equal share of the team's winnings.[13]

Mixed[]

Moulding won the 2014 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship skipping Team Alberta, which also consisted of his sister[14] Heather Jensen, and his then wife . The team finished the round robin tied for first with a 9–2 record. They then went on to defeat Ontario (skipped by Cory Heggestad) in the final.

Mixed doubles[]

Moulding competed at his first major mixed doubles tournament in 2021, joining Joanne Courtney to compete in the 2021 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship. They started the tournament with a win over two-time champions Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant.[15] Unfortunately, after starting with a 3–0 record, Moulding experienced back spasms during the night of March 21, which forced him and Courtney to withdraw from their match the next morning. Later that day the duo announced their withdrawal from the remainder of the competition.[16]

Personal life[]

Moulding has one child. He is employed as an icemaker at the Lacombe Curling Club and owns Pinpoint Roofing.[17]

References[]

  1. ^ "Curling Canada | Curling Scores on Curling.ca".
  2. ^ 2018 Brier Media Guide
  3. ^ "Curling Scores on Curling.ca". curling.ca. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  4. ^ "Pat Simmons parts ways with Team Bottcher - Sportsnet.ca". sportsnet.ca. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  5. ^ "CurlingZone". www.curlingzone.com. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Team Alberta to face Team Canada in Tim Hortons Brier final – 2018 Tim Hortons Brier". www.curling.ca. Archived from the original on 11 March 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  7. ^ "Ross Harstone Sportsmanship Award – Suburban Schoolmasters Curling League".
  8. ^ "GSOC cancels remaining events of 2019–20 season". Grand Slam of Curling. Grand Slam of Curling. March 13, 2020. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  9. ^ "Alberta selects Laura Walker, Brendan Bottcher for Scotties, Brier". CBC Sports. January 18, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  10. ^ "Bottcher edges Dunstone to reach Brier final against Koe". TSN. March 14, 2021. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  11. ^ "Brendan Bottcher wins 1st career Brier". CBC. March 14, 2021. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  12. ^ "Canada eliminated from men's curling worlds with tense loss to Scotland". CBC. March 14, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  13. ^ "Moulding opens up on meeting with Team Bottcher that led to his dismissal from team". Canadian Press. December 4, 2021. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
  14. ^ Hagen, Jefferson. "Moulding aims to continue magical curling season at SACA men's playdowns this weekend in Calgary". calgaryherald.com. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  15. ^ "Courtney and Moulding steal win from defending champs in Canadian mixed doubles curling opener". CBC. March 18, 2021. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  16. ^ "Injury forces Courtney-Moulding to withdraw". TSN. March 21, 2021. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  17. ^ "2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials Media Guide" (PDF). Curling Canada. Retrieved November 18, 2021.

External links[]

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