Alek Bédard (born December 12, 1996) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

curler from Lacolle,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

. He currently skips his own team out of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Career

Bédard won his first Quebec Junior Curling Championship in 2018, skipping his team of Louis Quevillon, Émile Asselin and

Bradley Lequin Bradley Lequin (born May 30, 1998) is a Canadian curler from Lacolle, Quebec. He currently plays lead on Team Yannick Martel. Career Lequin won his first Quebec Junior Curling Championship in 2018, playing lead for Alek Bédard with Loui ...

. This qualified them for the

2018 Canadian Junior Curling Championships The 2018 New Holland Canadian Junior Curling Championships was held from January 13 to 21 at the Aréna Grand-Mère and the Centre municipal de curling de Shawinigan in Shawinigan, Québec. The winners represented Canada at the 2018 World Juni ...

, held January 13–21 in

Shawinigan Shawinigan () is a city located on the Saint-Maurice River in the Mauricie area in Quebec, Canada. It had a population of 49,349 as of the 2016 Canadian census. Shawinigan is also a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and ...

. At the championship, Bédard led his team to a 4–2 round robin record, which was enough to qualify them for the championship pool. They then lost three of their four games, finishing the tournament in seventh place with a 5–5 record. Team Bédard aged out of juniors the following season and began competing on the

World Curling Tour The World Curling Tour (WCT) is a group of curling bonspiels featuring the best male, female, and mixed doubles curlers in the world. History The World Curling Tour was founded by former World Champion Ed Lukowich, with later assistance from J ...

. In their three events, they finished runner-up at the

Finale du Circuit Finale may refer to: Pieces of music * Finale (music), the last movement of a piece * ''Finale'' (album), a 1977 album by Loggins and Messina * " Finale B", a 1996 song from the rock opera ''Rent'' * "Finale", a song by Anthrax from '' State of ...

and reached the semifinals at both the Experience Curling Classic and the Vic Open Assurances Jean Gamache. At the 2019 WFG Tankard, they missed the championship round with a 3–3 record. During the 2019–20 season, Team Bédard competed in four tour events but only found success in one, the Challenge Casino de Charlevoix, where they reached the semifinals. At the 2020 Quebec Tankard, the team qualified for the championship round with a 5–1 record. They then went 2–1 in their next three games, good enough to earn them a spot in the 3 vs. 4 page playoff game. They then defeated

Martin Ferland Martin Ferland (born November 8, 1970) is a Canadian curler from Trois-Rivières, Quebec. Career Born in Drummondville, Quebec, Ferland was a member of the 2007 Quebec champion team, that was skipped by Pierre Charette. Ferland threw last ston ...

9–8 in the 3 vs. 4 game, upset Mike Fournier 9–8 in the semifinal and beat Vincent Roberge 7–2 to claim the championship title. Their win earned them a berth to the

2020 Tim Hortons Brier The 2020 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship, was held from February 29 to March 8 at the Leon's Centre in Kingston, Ontario. The winning Brad Gushue rink was scheduled to represent Canada at the 2020 World Men's Curli ...

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. There, they finished with a 1–6 record, only managing to beat Team Nunavut. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec The COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec is part of an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Until 2021, Quebec had reported t ...

, the 2021 provincial championship was cancelled.

Curling Québec Curling Québec is the regional governing body for the sport of curling in Quebec. It was founded in 1976 and is one of Curling Canada's 14 member associations. Provincial championships Curling Québec hosts nine provincial championships annual ...

then decided to select Team Fournier to represent Quebec at the

2021 Tim Hortons Brier The 2021 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship, was held from March 5 to 14 at the Markin MacPhail Centre at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta. In the final, Team Alberta, skipped by Brendan Bottcher defeated Team ...

, meaning Team Bédard would not have the opportunity to repeat as back-to-back provincials champions. Team Bédard had a strong start to the 2021–22 season, reaching the final of the Moosehead Classic. They then won the Challenge Nord-Ouest Air Creebec, beating the Jean-Sébastien Roy rink in the final game. They had two more playoff appearances during the season at the Challenge Casino de Charlevoix and the Finale du Circuit where they reached the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively. The Quebec Tankard was once again cancelled due to the pandemic and the Fournier rink was appointed as the provinces representatives, ending Team Bédard's season.

Personal life

Bédard is currently a computer science student at the

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

. He also works as a programmer-analyst for GIRO Inc.

Teams

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bédard, Alek 1996 births Living people Canadian male curlers Curlers from Quebec People from Montérégie McGill University alumni