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

Kanata, Ontario Kanata (, ) is a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located about west of the city's downtown core. As of 2021, Kanata had an urban population of 137,118. Before it was amalgamated into Ottawa in 2001, it was one of the fastest-growing ...

. He curls out of the

Rideau Curling Club The Rideau Curling Club is a curling facility and organization located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1888, the Rideau Curling Club maintains a rivalry with the Ottawa Curling Club. History The original club began operation in November, ...

. 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 in ...

for Canada. Born in

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Sault Ste. Marie ( ) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is at the St. Mary's River on the Canada–US border. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay. The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants of ...

, Rajala was a member of the

Rich Moffatt Richard Moffatt2017 Brier Media Guide: Previous Rosters (born 1959) is a Canadian curler from Ottawa, Ontario. In 1999, he became only the third curler to skip an Ottawa-area team at the Brier. Moffatt began curling in 1973 after quitting ice ...

rink that won the provincial championship in 1999. Rajala played third for that team that went 6–5 at the

1999 Labatt Brier The 1999 Labatt Brier was held from March 6 to 14 at Skyreach Centre in Edmonton, Alberta. Jeff Stoughton of Manitoba defeated Guy Hemmings of Quebec in the final. Teams Round-robin standings Round-robin results Draw 1 Draw 2 Draw ...

. 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 will represent Canada at the World Mixed Curling Championship. In mixed curling, the positions on a team must a ...

. 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 The 2013 Canadian Senior Curling Championships were held from March 16 to 24 at the Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. Summerside last hosted the Canadian Senior Championships in 2009. The winners of the champi ...

where they lost in the final to

Wayne Tallon Wayne Tallon (born May 22, 1956) is a Canadian curler from Fredericton, New Brunswick. He is the 2013 Canadian Senior champion skip and 2014 World Senior champion skip. Career Ontario Tallon is originally from Ontario. Curling out of the Navy ...

's New Brunswick rink. Rajala won the 2017 Ontario Senior Curling championships, as well. They represented Ontario at the

2017 Canadian Senior Curling Championships The 2017 Canadian Senior Curling Championships were held March 20 to 25, 2017 in Fredericton, New Brunswick Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of ...

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 worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...

. 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 highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

of his graduating class. He graduated from the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

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