Melissa Adams (born December 16, 1977 in

Grand Falls, New Brunswick Grand Falls (french: Grand-Sault) is a town located in Victoria County, New Brunswick, Canada. Grand Falls is situated on the Saint John River. The town derives its name from a waterfall created by a series of rock ledges over which the river ...

as Melissa McClure) is a Canadian curler from

Hanwell, New Brunswick Hanwell is an incorporated rural community and former local service district within Kingsclear Parish in York County, New Brunswick, Canada. It is located on Route 640 immediately southwest of Fredericton. On 1 January 2023, Hanwell annexed ...

. She currently skips her own team. She is a former Canadian and World Junior champion skip.

Career

Juniors

Adams first national championship appearance was at the 1995

Canada Winter Games Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by total ...

where she played for New Brunswick, winning a bronze medal. She also won two New Brunswick High School championships in 1993 and 1994. Adams would then go on to skip New Brunswick at three straight

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 ...

. At the

1996 Canadian Junior Curling Championships The 1996 Maple Leaf Canadian Junior Curling Championships, the men's and women's national junior curling championships of Canada, were held February 3 to 11 at the Shamrock and Granite Curling Clubs in Edmonton, Alberta. The 1996 event was the fir ...

, Adams led her New Brunswick team of Nancy Toner, Brigitte McClure and Bethany Toner to a 6–6 round robin record, missing the playoffs. At the

1997 Canadian Junior Curling Championships The 1997 Maple Leaf Foods Canadian Junior Curling Championships were held February 8-16 in Selkirk, Manitoba. Men's Teams Standings Results Draw 1 Draw 2 Draw 3 Draw 4 Draw 5 Draw 6 Draw 7 Draw 8 Draw 9 ...

, she led her team to an improved 7–5 record, but again missed the playoffs. At the

1998 Canadian Junior Curling Championships The 1998 Kärcher Canadian Junior Curling Championships were held January 24-February 1 at the Calgary Curling Club and the North Hill Curling Club in Calgary, Alberta. Men's Teams Standings Results Draw 1 Draw 2 Draw 3 Dra ...

, she led her team to a 10–2 round robin record, good enough for second place. In the semifinals, she beat Prince Edward Island's

Suzanne Gaudet Suzanne Birt (born Suzanne Gaudet on October 2, 1981 in Summerside, Prince Edward Island) is a Canadian curler from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. She currently skips her own team on the World Curling Tour. Career Juniors Birt, a skip, ...

rink and then in the finals, she beat Ontario's

Jenn Hanna Jennifer Ann Hanna (born January 22, 1980) is a Canadian curler from Nepean, Ontario. She curls out of the Ottawa Curling Club. She was a finalist in both the 1998 Canadian Junior Curling Championship and the . Career Early competitive career ...

to claim the championship. Adams would then represent Canada at the

1998 World Junior Curling Championships The 1998 STAR CHOICE World Junior Curling Championships were held in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada March 21–29. Men's Playoffs Women's Tiebreaker * 11-2 Playoffs Sources

{{World Junior Curling Championships 1998 in Canadian ...

. There, she led her team to a 7–2 round robin record, in second place. In the semifinals, she beat Scotland's

Julia Ewart Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e.g. ...

rink, and then downed Japan's

Akiko Katoh Akiko Sekiwa (; born April 6, 1978 in Tokoro, Hokkaido, Japan as Akiko Katoh, ) is a Japanese curler and curling coach, a four-time (1994, 1996, 1997, 1998) and a four-time Japan women's champion (1997, 1998, 1999, 2001). She played for Japan ...

rink in the final to win the gold medal.

Women's

Adams has had less success in her post-junior career. She would not win a provincial women's championship until 2017 with teammates Jennifer Armstrong,

Cathlia Ward Cathlia Mary Ward (born May 14, 1994) is a Canadian curler. She currently plays lead on Team Amélie Blais. Career Juniors Ward's first national level event was at the 2013 Canadian Junior Curling Championships as third for Jessica Daigle. ...

and

Katie Forward Katie Vandenborre (born September 11, 1994) is a Canadian curler from Fredericton, New Brunswick. She currently plays lead on Team Jessica Daigle. She has won three New Brunswick Scotties Tournament of Hearts and two New Brunswick junior titles ...

. They represented New Brunswick at the

2017 Scotties Tournament of Hearts The 2017 Scotties Tournament of Hearts was held from February 16 to 26 at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines, Ontario. The Rachel Homan rink, representing Ontario, won their third national title; with Homan becoming the youngest skip, man or w ...

, where they failed to make it out of the pre-qualifying tournament. After going 3–0 in the tournament, she lost in the pre-qualifying final to the Northwest Territories, and did not play in the main event. The next season, Adams joined the

Sylvie Robichaud Sylvie Quillian (born June 18, 1980 as Sylvie Robichaud) is a Canadian curler from Riverview, New Brunswick. She has won four New Brunswick Scotties Tournament of Hearts and was the New Brunswick provincial junior champion from 1999–2001. Ca ...

rink, which would win the

2018 New Brunswick Scotties Tournament of Hearts The 2018 New Brunswick Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the provincial women's curling championship of New Brunswick was held January 4 to 7 at Curl Moncton in Moncton. The winning team, the Sylvie Robichaud rink from Moncton represented New Brunsw ...

. At the

2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts The 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Canada's national women's curling championship, was held from January 27–February 4, 2018 at the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton, British Columbia. The winning team represented Canada at the 2018 ...

, the team finished the new pool play format with a 4–3 record. This placed them fifth in their pool, not enough to qualify for the Championship Pool. In addition to her appearances at the 2017 and 2018 Hearts, Adams was the alternate for Team New Brunswick (skipped by

Andrea Kelly Andrea Danyell Kelly ( née Lee, January 28, 1974), known professionally as Drea, is an American choreographer, dancer, and actress. She is the ex-wife of singer-songwriter R. Kelly. Background and personal life Andrea Danyell Lee was born in ...

) at the

2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts The 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the Canadian women's national curling championship, was held from February 21 to March 1 at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, British Columbia. Teams Round-Robin Standings Quebec was awar ...

, though she did not play in any games. 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 ...

, Adams has played in one career

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

event, the

2010 Sobeys Slam The 2010 Sobeys Slam was the third women's Grand Slam event of the 2010–11 curling season. It took place from November 11 to 14 at the John Brother MacDonald Stadium in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. It was the third ever Sobeys Slam event, and t ...

, losing all three of her games. She has won the WFG Jim Sullivan Curling Classic twice, in 2015 and 2017. After failing to win the provincial championship in back to back years, Team Quillian disbanded and Adams formed her own team of

Justine Comeau Justine Comeau (born July 28, 1998) is a Canadian curler from Fredericton, New Brunswick. Career Comeau has represented New Brunswick at four Canadian Junior Curling Championships with two bronze medals to her name in 2016 and 2018. She also h ...

Jaclyn Tingley Jaclyn Lora Crandall (born April 4, 1989), previously known as Jaclyn Tingley, is a Canadian curler from Fredericton, New Brunswick. She currently plays third on Team Melissa Adams. Career Crandall played in her first provincial championship ...

and

Kendra Lister Kendra Lister (born October 4, 1987 as Kendra Dickison) is a Canadian curler from Fredericton, New Brunswick. She currently plays second on Team Melissa Adams. Career Women's Lister joined the Quillian (Robichaud at the time) rink after the 2 ...

. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in New Brunswick The COVID-19 pandemic in New Brunswick is an ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The province of New Brunswick ha ...

, the 2021 provincial championship was cancelled. As the reigning provincial champions, Team Crawford was given the invitation to represent New Brunswick at the

2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts The 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Canada's national women's curling championship, was held from February 19 to 28 at the Markin MacPhail Centre at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta. The winning Kerri Einarson team represented Canada at ...

, but they declined due to work and family commitments. Team Adams was then invited in their place, which they accepted. One member of Adams' rink,

, opted to not attend the Scotties, with

Nicole Arsenault Bishop Nicole Arsenault-Bishop (born October 28, 1981) is a Canadian curler from Riverview, New Brunswick. She currently skips her own team out of Curl Moncton in Moncton, New Brunswick. Career Arsenault-Bishop played in her first New Brunswick Scott ...

stepping in to play second on the team. At the Hearts, Adams led her team to a 3–5 round robin record, failing to qualify for the championship round.

Mixed doubles

Adams plays

mixed doubles curling Mixed is the past tense of ''mix''. Mixed may refer to: * Mixed (United Kingdom ethnicity category), an ethnicity category that has been used by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics since the 1991 Census * ''Mixed'' (album), a co ...

with her partner

Alex Robichaud Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple peop ...

. The duo won the 2019 Goldine Clermont Mixed Doubles on the

. In 2021, the pair represented New Brunswick at the

2021 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship The 2021 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship (branded as the 2021 Home Hardware Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship for sponsorship reasons) was held from March 18 to 25 at the Markin MacPhail Centre at Canada Olympic Park in Calga ...

, finishing with a 1–5 record.

Personal life

Adams is married to Todd Adams and has three children. She works as the national operations specialist for the

Canadian Food Inspection Agency The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA; french: Agence canadienne d'inspection des aliments) is a regulatory agency that is dedicated to the safeguarding of food, plants, and animals (FPA) in Canada, thus enhancing the health and well-being o ...

. Her junior team was inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Melissa 1977 births Canadian women curlers Curlers from New Brunswick Living people People from Grand Falls, New Brunswick People from York County, New Brunswick