Fun squad plays giant-killer

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This article was published 19/02/2015 (4064 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MOOSE JAW, Sask. — On paper, their draw looked sort of scary — but Mary-Anne Arsenault and her giddy Nova Scotia team kept laughing and soldiered on.

When the fifth day of the Canadian women’s curling championship was over, they’d earned a new nickname: Nova Scotia, giant-killers.

No, really. On Wednesday, the sudden Maritime wonders knocked back the world’s two best women’s teams, beginning with a 9-6 defeat of Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones in the morning. For a chaser, they shot down Team Canada’s Rachel Homan in a 7-6 afternoon triumph.

With that, the spirited Halifax foursome became the surprise darlings of a fan base that was hungry to cheer for something unexpected. It was a heck of a comeback for a decorated, veteran skip who was on the brink of retirement — and for her Scotties rookie teammates, the day was nothing short of a dream come true.

“It’s unreal,” said third Christina Black, buzzing backstage after the Homan win. “I’ve watched these guys on TV for the past years… to play them, and now win, now you can really believe that yeah, we deserve to be here. We have what it takes.”

And would you believe it: When Nova Scotia saw their schedule, and noticed they were slated for a live interview right after, second Jane Snyder actually called it.

“She said, ‘It’s going to be really fun to have an Up Close and Personal after we knock off the two top teams,” beamed Black, 27. “We laughed. We knew it would be a tough day, and you hoped coming into it that we had a better record, because you think even winning one of the two would be a good day.”

Good day, meet great day. The twin upset wins vaulted Nova Scotia from 2-5 to 4-5 on the week, and keeps a tiebreaker chance alive. And it was an exciting outing, considering it’s been a couple of years since anyone on the team played on arena ice, while the second and third had never been to a Scotties.

“We’ve been playing well, it’s just that little extra hit-and-roll here and there that we haven’t been able to call properly, doubles we were jamming on,” Arsenault said. “It’s that inch-away kind of stuff that’s been happening to us. We’re still down to the wire in all of the games that we had, but we were getting the right side of the inch today.”

Oh, Arsenault knows so well how those tiny breaks can go. She’s an old hand at this, of course, 22 years since she made her first trip to Scotties.

Later, she played eight years alongside Nova Scotia icon Colleen Jones, and together they dominated the Scotties in the early 2000s with four straight Canadian titles.

So in the morning, when asked what it meant to beat the reigning Olympic champions on Team Jones, Arsenault just laughed. “I’ve been there, done that,” she said.

Instead, she started talking about the rest of her team, and her face lit up. At 46, Arsenault was thinking she might retire this season after her longtime teammate Kim Kelly decided to move into senior play. But after scouring Halifax clubs for some fresh talent, the skip and lead Jennifer Baxter decided to recruit Black and Snyder, two bubbly curlers who’d played together before.

The foursome gelled from the start — they don’t call themselves “the fun squad” for nothing — and most of all, they’ve learned a lot.

“I idolized (the Colleen Jones team) when I was a kid,” Black said. “I watched every game, never missed one, and I just wanted to be like them, and be doing that too.

“So to play with her is just a dream come true, and to have her knowledge and expertise. She’s been here 12 times, so nothing’s going to faze her. And she stays so calm and just keeps us like, ‘come along, little chickens, you’re all right.’ And we just follow along, do what we’re told and sweep hard.”

So whatever happens for the Nova Scotians to close out this week, consider their stunning Wednesday a gift to young up-and-comers, from a well-travelled skip.

There’s no way of knowing, Arsenault noted, how many more trips to the Scotties she’ll be able to get. And there is one lesson she hopes her teammates leave Moose Jaw with.

“That they’re worthy,” Arsenault said.

“They work hard, and they’ve been wanting this for a long time. They’re worthy of what they have accomplished today, and I think they are the future of Nova Scotia curling.”

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca