Typhoon rides the wave of fan support in Toronto on Takeover Night

TORONTO — It's quite fitting the most diverse franchise in Rock League was feted in one of the most diverse cities in the world.

Wednesday was Typhoon Takeover Night at TMU Mattamy Athletic Centre as fans from Toronto’s multicultural communities came together to show their support for the club. 

While its members hail from all over the globe — China, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and even Scotland and Sweden — they’re united through curling in the all-new professional league.

Their fans went home happy as Typhoon took the match over Shield Curling Club 2-1. Typhoon battled back and forth to win 9-6 in the men’s game and 7-6 in mixed doubles with the 10-7 loss in the women’s game as the lone blemish of the night.

“I really wanted to win this game because a lot of Asian fans came to watch Typhoon’s game,” said a smiling Chinami Yoshida, who captains the franchise and plays third on the women’s team. “That's why I'm so happy to win this game.”

New Zealand’s Anton Hood, who throws lead and handles vice skip duties on the men’s team, said it felt incredible to have fans from different backgrounds come out to support them. 

“We feel like we're probably sometimes a team of misfits or whatever, but we've got an incredible team and an incredible lineup this week,” Hood said. “To have fans here cheering us tonight was a big win for us, so we're pretty happy.”

J.D. Lind is Typhoon’s general manager and the glue holding all the pieces together. The Calgary native is a natural fit for the franchise, having been the longtime coach for various Japanese teams, including the Loco Solare women’s team that Yoshida played with for 12 years until announcing she was stepping back last week.

One of Lind’s top tasks is ensuring the team bonds together, on and off the ice, with the players taking in the Toronto Blue Jays’ game on Tuesday night. 

“We've been trying our best to get this team as tight as we can in a short amount of time as we can because obviously our goal in this event was to try and find as much chemistry, as much teamwork, camaraderie as we could as quickly as we could,” Lind said. “We started with some Skype meetings and stuff before the event to try and start that, but the ball game was a great chance for all of us to just have a great time together. I think everybody's been really enjoying it. We're having a lot of fun and I think it's showing on the ice in our performance.”

Hood said it was mixed doubles player Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi who hooked them up with the Blue Jays tickets.

“One of his friends works for the Blue Jays, so he managed to pull some strings,” he said. “We got to meet her last night, and we got to watch an incredible team play from incredible seats, so we were pretty happy.” 

There were Japanese sports fans on hand at the Rogers Centre as well cheering on new Blue Jays infielder Kazuma Okamoto plus Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani and ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the World Series rematch. 

Considering Yoshida is a two-time Olympic medallist and one of the most followed curlers on social media, with over 312,000 Instagram followers, it shouldn’t be a surprise that some of the Japanese fans at the ballpark recognized her as well.

“That was like a Japanese night, so that's why so many Japanese fans came to watch the baseball game,” Yoshida said. “Then also they knew us. Japanese (fans), asked us, ‘Are you guys professional curlers?’ It was Day 2 or Day 3 as a professional curler, so that's why we're like, ‘Yes, I am!’ We are professional curlers or something like that. Maybe in the future it's going to be a normal situation for all of the curlers, so I hope that happens soon.”

Rock League is looking to make the dream for curlers to become professional athletes a reality while also creating something that’s complementary to the traditional game as an alternative with a faster pace of play and an emphasis on a fun atmosphere for players and fans alike. 

Hood was on “cloud nine” from the moment he was in the hack delivering his first stone on opening day Monday and playing alongside second Dexin Ba, third Bobby Lammie and skip Niklas Edin on the men’s team. The 26-year-old Hood will probably be pinching himself a few times this week as he helps call the line for Edin, the iconic skip who won his record-extending eighth world men’s championship this past weekend.

“I think the awe of playing with him hasn't worn off, but I'm settling with the feeling,” Hood said. “Especially the awe of playing with Bobby and Ba as well, people that over the years I've looked at and looked up to. 

“It's been a pretty incredible experience. I feel like I'm just starting to get my confidence out there and just playing better and better. We're all playing better and better, so I’m pretty excited.”

As they continue to gel, they just needs to work on a unique team celebration. Northern United has embraced its wolf identity and set the tone for cellys with a group howl. Perhaps Typhoon could do the wave or perform a haka dance? 

“Maybe after a beer tonight we'll have a bit of a discussion and see what we come up with,” Hood said with a laugh.