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 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 one of the thirtee ...

. He currently skips his own team out of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Career

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

Émile Asselin Émile Asselin (born November 15, 1996) is a Canadian curler from Montreal, Quebec. He currently plays second on Team Félix Asselin. Career Playing lead for his brother Félix Asselin, Émile won back-to-back Quebec Junior Curling Championship ...

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 Louis Qu ...

. This qualified them for the 2018 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, 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) an ...

. 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 Jo ...

. In their three events, they finished runner-up at the Finale du Circuit 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 The Challenge de Curling Desjardins, formerly the Challenge Casino de Charlevoix is an annual bonspiel, or curling tournament, that takes place at the Aréna de Clermont and the Club de Curling Nairn in Clermont, Québec. The tournament is h ...

, 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 stone ...

9–8 in the 3 vs. 4 game, upset Mike Fournier 9–8 in the semifinal and beat

Vincent Roberge Vincent Roberge (born December 16, 1997) is a Canadian curler from Lévis, Quebec. Career Roberge won his first Quebec Junior Curling Championship in 2017, skipping his team of Julien Tremblay, Étienne Elmaleh and Fabien Roberge. This qual ...

7–2 to claim the championship title. Their win earned them a berth to the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier in Kingston,

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 Ca ...

. 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 Curling Canada (formerly the Canadian Curling Association (CCA)) is a sanctioning body for the sport of Curl ...

then decided to select Team Fournier to represent Quebec at the 2021 Tim Hortons Brier, 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 Jean-Sébastien Roy (born August 14, 1977) is a Canadian curler from Gatineau, Quebec. Career Roy is a two time provincial junior champion, winning in 1995 as the third for Yanick Gaudreault and in 1997 as the third for Philippe Lemay. At th ...

rink in the final game. They had two more playoff appearances during the season at the

and the Finale du Circuit where they reached the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively. The

Quebec Tankard The Hardline Quebec Tankard (French: ''Tankard Hardline''), formerly the Quebec Men's Provincial Curling Championship is the Quebec provincial championship for men's curling. The tournament is run by Curling Québec, the provincial curling associ ...

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