Team Hood, the New Zealand men's curling team, is in Ottawa, Canada learning more every day at the World Men's Curling Championships (WMCC).

Three team members have connections to Central: Hunter Walker (Kyeburn), Ben Smith and skip Anton Hood (Naseby). 

The other team members are Brett Sargon (Auckland) and Peter de Boer (Wellington).  

Anton said their goal was to play well and to learn from all the moments during the week.

“A massive thank you to the NZ Curling Association for all their hard work, the supporters, and the families of all the team members. We can’t do it without you all,” he said.

Their first few games have been against tough competition. They lost to Korea (2-8), the Czech Republic (1-8) and to hosts Canada (2-8) and Norway (2 -9). On Wednesday morning Japan came out on top (5-10), later on they played Italy.  

Upcoming games are on April 6 against Germany at 1am and Switzerland at 11am, April 7 Turkey at 1am and Sweden at 11am, and April 8 United States at 6am and Scotland at 11am. April 9 and 10 are the playoff games and this is pending qualification. 

NZ’s men’s team is (from left, back row) Peter de Boer, Nelson Ede, and (front row) Hunter Walker, Brett Sargon, Ben Smith and Anton Hood. PHOTO: World Curling Federation 

The men travelled to Calgary first where they prepared and practised prior to the championship.

The team qualified for this event with their fifth placing at November's Pan Continental Championship, contested by the leading nations from Asia and the Americas.

It will be the first World Championship for these four. Their coach and reserve player Peter de Boer skipped NZ to fifth place at the last World Championship a Kiwi Men's side attended in 2012. 

There are teams taking part from Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States.

The NZ men's team for the WMCC 2023

The Kiwi men have played at five World Championships since their first appearance in 1999, most recently in 2012.

Follow the teams progress on their Team Hood Facebook page, or you can tune into the live stream on Recast.