Ackland missing action at Scotties

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This article was published 23/01/2019 (2628 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GIMLI, Man. — For years, Abby Ackland dreamed of making her debut at the Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts. She yearned to compete against the province’s top curlers, to begin her climb up the ladder of elite play.

So last year, when Ackland’s Assiniboine Memorial foursome clinched a berth for the 2019 women’s provincials, which opened Wednesday in Gimli, the 24-year-old skip was elated. At last, she would chase the buffalo jacket.

But then, just before Christmas, Ackland got the news she’d waited more than two years to hear: she’d been accepted to become a Winnipeg paramedic. Only problem: training was set to begin on Jan. 21 — two days before the start of the Scotties.

“It’s super unfortunate,” Ackland said during a phone interview while the rest of her team was competing at Gimli Recreation Centre on Wednesday. “I knew as soon as the job opportunity came up I was going to have to be deciding between the two.”

In truth, it wasn’t a hard decision. Ackland has worked hard to become a paramedic, even taking a year off of curling as a junior to study for the tests. (She didn’t lose a step: when Ackland came back in 2015-16, she promptly won her second Manitoba junior title, and first as a skip.)

Still, the opportunity meant Ackland — who, along with Laura Burtnyk, is one of two rookie skips at this Scotties — will miss most of the excitement of her rookie outing. She will lead her team for at least two round-robin games, on Friday night and Saturday afternoon, but otherwise she will have to cheer them on from Winnipeg.

“It kind of sucks because I wanted to try and make a name for myself,” she says. “People only know me from juniors, and it’s definitely a different world. So I was excited to get my name out there. I still plan to have a pretty successful career in curling as well, I plan to do both.”

In the meantime, her team is soldiering on at the Scotties without her. Fifth Brandi Forrest is filling in at skip, calling shots for third Hailey Ryan, second Emilie Rafnson and lead Sara Oliver. The team had a promising start, splitting their two Wednesday games with a morning loss to fifth seed Beth Peterson and a 9-7 upset win over veteran Barb Spencer.

“It was a little bit of a shock when (Abby) told us,” said Ryan, who is also making her Scotties debut. “But we’re a young team, we can adapt to what’s going on around us. We’re super happy for her, we want her to do well in her career, and we’re still going to have a lot of Scotties ahead of us.”

They’re not the only team in Gimli looking towards the future. This year’s field is youthful, liberally sprinkled with up-and-coming curlers. Fort Rouge skip Kristy Watling is making her second women’s provincial appearance; so are Stonewall’s Rebecca Lamb and 2015 Manitoba junior champ Peterson, who surged to a 2-0 start.

Then there is Burtnyk, 23, the other rookie skip at this year’s provincials. The 2017 Manitoba junior champion shares her famous father Kerry Burtnyk’s name, and his signature tuck delivery, but make no mistake: with her Scotties debut, she’s looking to make her own splash.

It’ll be an uphill battle. With a brand-new team that includes Gaetanne Gauthier at third, Ashley Groff at second and Krysten Karwacki at lead — sister Rachel Burtnyk is also along for the ride, as fifth — Burtnyk’s Assiniboine Memorial rink opened their Scotties with back-to-back losses.

That’s not unusual for a young team. Even just within Manitoba, there is a big jump between junior and women’s play. But for a rookie, that’s a bonus: Burtnyk, who one day hopes to advance to the high-stakes grand slams, is here to learn, and she “couldn’t ask for a better field” to test herself against, she said.

“In junior you have a few more misses than you do out here,” Burtnyk said, after dropping her opening match to veteran Darcy Robertson. “Here, if you miss, you can’t expect the team behind you is going to miss, so you have to capitalize when you can.”

She does have some world-class experience to lean on — if she wants it. Kerry Burtnyk will be in the stands all week, watching his daughter lead her team through their first Scotties. Still, he tries to only offer his advice when it’s wanted.

“She’s developed her own game,” Kerry said. “With my two daughters, they’re my daughters and I’m not Kerry the curler, I’m their dad. We’ve kind of kept it that way most of the time… that’s how I learned too, is on my own.”

For her part, Laura agreed with that assessment. Sometimes, the elder Burtnyk’s advice is “not what I want to hear,” she said with a laugh. But she does seek it out, when she needs the guidance.

“We try to find a healthy balance,” she said. “He’s always happy to offer advice when I’m willing to take it, and I try to make sure I can absorb whatever knowledge he’s willing to share. He knows what to do, and I like to think I trust whatever he’s thinking.”

One of the biggest lessons she took from her father: always keep an eye on the scoreboard.

“He always drills that into me,” said Burtnyk. “If the scoreboard says a certain thing, you play that way. Don’t play too aggressive, don’t play too defensive, just make sure you always know what the score is at all points of the game.”

The 2019 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts continues through Sunday at the Gimli Recreation Centre, with playoffs set to begin Saturday afternoon. Live scores and draw schedules are available online at curlmanitoba.org.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca