Howard John "Howie" Rajala (born February 12, 1962) is a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

curler from

Kanata, Ontario Kanata (, ) is a satellite city, satellite community and former city within Ottawa, Ontario. It is located about west of the city's Downtown Ottawa, downtown core. As of 2021, the former City of Kanata had a population of 98,938, with the ...

. He curls out of the Rideau Curling Club. In 2023 his rink won the

World Senior Curling Championships The World Senior Curling Championships is an annual curling tournament featuring curlers from around the world who are at least 50 years old. Matches at the World Senior Championships are played in 8 ends played instead of the 10 played in most i ...

for Canada. Born in

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Sault Ste. Marie ( ) is a city in northern Ontario, Canada, on the north shore of the St. Mary's River directly across from its "twin city," Sault Ste. Marie, in the state of Michigan. The city's population was 72,051 at the 2021 census, makin ...

, Rajala was a member of the Rich Moffatt rink that won the provincial championship in 1999. Rajala played third for that team that went 6–5 at the 1999 Labatt Brier. In 1998, he was a member of the team that won The Dominion Regalia Silver Tankard for the Rideau Curling Club. In 2001, Rajala won the Ontario Mixed title with teammates Darcie Simpson, Chris Fulton and Linda Fulton. This qualified his team to represent Ontario at the 2001

Canadian Mixed Curling Championship The Canadian Mixed Curling Championship is the national curling championship for mixed curling in Canada. The winners of the tournament represent Canada at the World Mixed Curling Championship. In mixed curling, the positions on a team must alte ...

. The team finished the round robin with a 7–4 record in a massive 7-way tie for first place. After defeating British Columbia ( skipped by Wes Craig) in their first tie breaker game, they lost in their second tie breaker game to Saskatchewan (skipped by Scott Coghlan). With Moffatt, Rajala went to seven provincial championships. He began skipping 2002 and played in three more championships as skip (2003, 2008, 2011). Rajala won the 2013 Ontario Senior Curling championships with Moffatt at third, Doug Johnston and Ken Sullivan. They represented Ontario at the 2013 Canadian Senior Curling Championships where they lost in the final to Wayne Tallon's New Brunswick rink. Rajala won the 2017 Ontario Senior Curling championships, as well. They represented Ontario at the 2017 Canadian Senior Curling Championships where they lost in the final to Wade White's Alberta rink. He won again in 2020, but the Canadian Championships were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Most cases over the course o ...

. Rajala won the 2022 Ontario Seniors again, and went on to win the 2022 Canadian Senior Curling Championships. His rink then won the 2023 World Senior Curling Championships for Canada.

Personal life

Rajala went to Lakeway Collegiate & Vocational School in Sault Ste. Marie, where he was the skip of the high school curling team, and was the

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

of his graduating class. He graduated from the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1985, and then began working with Davis Engineering Ltd. in Ottawa.

References

External links

*
1999 Labatt Brier

2001 Canadian Mixed

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajala, Howard 1962 births Living people Curlers from Ottawa Sportspeople from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Canadian engineers Canadian male curlers University of Waterloo alumni Canadian people of Finnish descent 20th-century Canadian sportsmen