Craig Kochan (born October 18, 1969 in Marathon,

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 ...

, Canada) 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

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. He has played competitively in both Northern and southern Ontario and in the Yukon. As of 2019, he has won three Northern Ontario junior titles, the Yukon men's championship, a Northern Ontario mixed title and has played in seven Ontario provincial championships, two Northern Ontario provincial championships and two Yukon championships.

Career

Juniors

Kochan's junior career involved winning the Northern Ontario junior title three years straight in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

and

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

. This qualified him to represent Northern Ontario at the

Canadian Junior Curling Championships The Canadian Junior Curling Championships is an annual curling tournament held to determine the best junior-level curling team in Canada. Junior level curlers must be under the age of 21 as of June 30 in the year prior to the tournament. The even ...

each of those years. At the 1987 Canadian Juniors, Kochan and his rink of Craig Cordiner, Andy Davis and Mike Desilets finished the round robin with a 6-5 record, missing the playoffs. The Kapuskasing four-some returned to the Canadian Juniors in

and this time finished the round robin with a 9-2 record, in first place. In the final they played against British Columbia's Mike Wood, and lost 6-2. At the 1989 Canadian Juniors, Cordiner and Davis were replaced by Greg Kawahara and Aaron Skillen and they curled out of

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population i ...

. Kochan did not fare as well with this new line up, and once again finished 6-5, out of the playoffs.

Provincial & territorial playdowns

After his junior career, Kochan has played in provincial playdowns both in Northern and southern Ontario, but has yet to win a provincial men's title in either region. The closest he came to winning was at the 1995 Northern Ontario finals where he lost to

Al Hackner Allan A. Hackner (born July 18, 1954), nicknamed "the Iceman", is a retired Canadians, Canadian Hall of Fame curling, curler from Thunder Bay, Ontario. He was born in Nipigon, Ontario. He is a two-time the Brier, Brier and World Curling Champion ...

. He did win the Northern Ontario mixed title in 2011, and skipped the Northern Ontario team (which also included Liz Kingston,

Colin Koivula Colin may refer to: * Colin (given name) * Colin (surname) * ''Colin'' (film), a 2008 Cannes film festival zombie movie * Colin (horse) (1905–1932), thoroughbred racehorse * Colin (humpback whale), a humpback whale calf abandoned north of Sydn ...

and Alissa Begin) to a 4-7 finish at the 2011 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship. In 2016, Kochan joined the

Whitehorse, Yukon Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

-based Jon Solberg rink at third position. The team would win the

2017 Yukon Men's Curling Championship The 2017 Yukon Men's Curling Championship was held January 12 to 15 at the Whitehorse Curling Club in Whitehorse, Yukon. The winning Jon Solberg team represented the Yukon at the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier The 2017 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's natio ...

, sending Kochan to his first Brier. There, the team was eliminated in the prequalifying final.

Personal life

Kochan is employed as the president of My Advisors Inc.2017 Brier Media Guide: Team Yukon

References

1987 Canadian Junior Curling Championships results

1988 Canadian Junior Curling Championships results

1989 Canadian Junior Curling Championships results

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kochan, Craig 1969 births Living people Sportspeople from Whitehorse Curlers from Toronto Curlers from Northern Ontario Curlers from Yukon People from Kapuskasing Canadian male curlers People from Thunder Bay District Canada Cup (curling) participants