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New Name and New Team for Gaudet

July 1, 2008

Reigning P.E.I. women's champion, Suzanne Gaudet, has recently made some big changes, both on and off the rink. The former world junior champion has recently tied the knot. In addition to this, after a disappointing year at the Tournament of Hearts, the P.E.I. skip will go with an entirely new line-up for the 2008-09 curling season.

The 27 year old has claimed two national championships, winning the Canadian Juniors in both 2001 and 2002, and one time world champion, winning the World Juniors in 2001. Since then, Gaudet's had inconsistent results at the Tournament of Hearts, going 10-1 one season and then finishing 2-9 the next. After another disappointing run last year, Gaudet has decided to go with an entirely new squad. She has dropped two of her former team mates Robyn MacPhee and Carol Webb. Added to the roster are Shelley Bradley and Leslie MacDougall, who will play third and second respectively.

Shelley Bradley will be familiar to most curling fans as the two time P.E.I. representative at the Tournament of Hearts. Bradley claimed the provincial title in both 2000 and 2001. Shelley tried to make it back to the Scotties last year, but she fell to Gaudet's team in the provincial finals by a convincing score of 8-3. The other new addition to the Gaudet team is Leslie MacDougall, who also used to play as a member of Shelley Bradley's team. By combining two of the biggest teams from Canada's smallest province, the foursome hopes to make a serious run at winning the Scotties in 2009.

But perhaps the biggest change for Gaudet, is that she won't be known as Suzanne Gaudet anymore. Just under four weeks ago, the P.E.I. women's champ got married, changing her name to Mrs. Birt.

Gaudet, or Birt, is the latest of many teams that have made changes during this off season. Other notable teams to make big changes to the roster are Team Brad Gushue, Team Kerry Burtnyk, Team Michelle Englot, and Team Heather Rankin. Many of these teams gave the same explanation for the changes: the Olympics. All these teams are right on the edge of qualifying for the pre-trails. These changes, they hope, will give them that little boost to reach that goal.

So next season, keep an eye out for the brand new Team Suzanne Birt. They will be trying to represent the province of P.E.I at the Tournament of Hearts for the sixth time.