Kelsey Rocque


Kelsey Elizabeth Rocque is a Canadian curler residing in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. She is a two-time World Junior champion skip.

Career

In 2013, Rocque played for her first University Championship, at the 2013 CIS/CCA Curling Championships in Kamloops, British Columbia, for the University of Alberta Pandas. There, she would go 6–1 in the Round Robin and it would earn her a spot in the Semi Finals. She then, would play the Saint Mary's Huskies and win in an 8–2 decision. She would then go on to play in the final against the Manitoba Bisons and lose in a 9–7 decision. Rocque would win the silver medal, and be named to the First All Star team at the skip position. Rocque would also play in the Alberta Junior Curling Championship that year. They went 6–1 in the Round Robin which gave them a berth in the final. There they would lose to Karynn Flory.
In 2014, Rocque and her team of third Keely Brown, second Taylor McDonald, lead Claire Tully and coach Amanda-Dawn Coderre competed once again in the Alberta Junior Curling Championship and this time they would win, with a 6–5 win over 2012 Canadian Junior champion Jocelyn Peterman. This earned them the right to represent Alberta at the 2014 Canadian Junior Curling Championships in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. Rocque went undefeated in her Round Robin Pool which gave her a playoff berth. She went 9-1 in the playoffs with her only loss coming at the hands of Nova Scotia's Mary Fay. This meant that Rocque and her team would go directly to the final, where they would face British Columbia's Kalia Van Osch. Rocque and her team led the entire game and had an inturn hit for the win and the championship. They won in a 7–6 decision. Rocque was named to the First All Star team at the skip position, with a player percentage of 79 throughout Round Robin play. At the 2014 World Junior Curling Championships, Rocque finished the Round Robin with a 7–2 record, losing only to Russia and South Korea. Rocque would again face South Korea in the 1 vs. 2 page playoff, but this time would win in a 7–6 decision. Rocque and her team would play South Korea again in the final, but would win in a 6-4 decision to capture the Gold medal and the championship. This would be the first time a Canadian Women's team would win the championship since 2003.
Rocque also played for the University of Alberta team, for the second time, in the 2014 CIS/CCA Curling Championships. The Pandas went 6–1 in the Round Robin, which gave them a bye to the final. They would lose the final however, in a 9–4 decision, to the Carleton Ravens, earning her a second silver medal. Rocque had the second highest skip percentage at the end of the Round Robin, which would lead her to be named to the second All Star Team at the skip position.
In 2015, Rocque and her new team of Danielle Schmiemann, Holly Jamieson and Jesse Iles would compete for and win her second Alberta Junior Curling Championship, earning her and her team a berth at the 2015 Canadian Junior Curling Championships in Corner Brook where she defended her title with her new team by going 9–1 in the round robin giving her a birth to the final, where they won against Ontario's Chelsea Brandwood 8–2. She joined Cathy King, Suzanne Birt, and Kaitlyn Lawes as the fourth junior woman skip to win back-to-back Canadian Junior Curling Championships titles. Rocque would cap the season off by going undefeated to win the 2015 World Junior Curling Championships, becoming the first Canadian skip to win back to back women's world junior championships.
Later on that year, Rocque would skip her University of Alberta Panda's team at a third CIS/CCA Curling Championships. This time, they would go on to win the championship, and get the chance to represent Canada at the 2016 Winter Universiade.
Rocque has also won two juvenile Alberta titles.
It was announced that Rocque, aging out of juniors, would join Chelsea Carey's old rink, with Taylor McDonald at second, Jen Gates at lead, and Laura Crocker at the third position. Rocque skipped the team until partly into the 2017-18 curling season, where she continued to throw fourth stones while Crocker took over as skip. In February 2018, the team announced that the members will separate. For the 2018-19 season, Rocque reunited with her junior team of Danielle Schmiemann, Rebecca Konschuh and Jesse Iles. The team made it all the way to the final of the 2019 Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts where they lost to Chelsea Carey 8-3.
The team had a strong 2019–20 season, starting it off with a semifinal finish at the 2019 Cameron's Brewing Oakville Fall Classic. The team qualified for the playoffs at the 2019 Tour Challenge Grand Slam event where they lost to eventual winners Anna Hasselborg. Going into the 2020 Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Rocque was the number one seeded team, earning their spot through the CTRS points leader berth. They went 6–1 through the round robin, with their only loss to the Laura Walker. They would play Walker again in the 1 vs. 2 game where they lost 7–1. They had a strong semifinal game, able to easily defeat Krysta Hilker 8–1 setting up the third match for Rocque and Walker during the competition. The team struggled during the final, not able to figure out the ice and losing the final for the second straight year in a row. Rocque still got to participate in the 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts as the alternate for the Walker rink. Rocque played in two games at the Hearts, and the team finished pool play with a 3–4 record, failing to qualify for the championship round. It would be the team's last event of the season as both the Players' Championship and the Champions Cup Grand Slam events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 18, 2020, it was announced that both Becca Hebert and Jesse Marlow would be leaving the team. Rocque and Schmiemann then announced on March 21 that Dana Ferguson and Rachelle Brown would be joining them for the 2020–21 season.

Personal life

She is a third cousin to Canadian curler Marcel Rocque, who played for the Randy Ferbey rink. She is employed as a curling coordinator at the University of Alberta.

Grand Slam record

Teams