Three cheers for Manitoba: Trio of ’Tobans make Scotties playdowns

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This article was published 26/02/2016 (3738 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. — When Kerri Einarson’s hot final shot found its winning mark, the Manitoba skip had won not just a playoff, but a chunk of history.

With that hit, an unflinching double-takeout through a narrow port, Einarson scored three and completed a last-minute 7-6 comeback win over last-place New Brunswick. For Team Manitoba, the Friday morning victory clinched a third-place playoff spot. As Einarson breathlessly breezed off the ice, her legs were still shaking.

“It’s really a dream come true to be in this spot,” Einarson said, blinking back tears. “I’m so proud. I’m so proud of my team… (it’s emotional) just to achieve your goal that you’ve always dreamed about, and I’m missing my kids, too, so it’s tough. But I’m just so happy.”

The victory wasn’t just a high point for Einarson and her East St. Paul foursome. It also set a new and unusual high-water mark at the Canadian women’s curling championship for all of Manitoba — one that may not be matched by any province for a long, long time. Maybe not ever. Maybe this weekend will be unique.

Oh, just call Revolution Place the Buffalo Range. Though many predicted it could happen, it didn’t seem real until Einarson’s win cemented the playoff seedings. Of the final four teams standing at the 2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, there are not one, not two, but all three of the most recent Manitoba champions.

“Manitoba is a tough province, as you can tell,” said Einarson third Selena Kaatz, beaming after their big win. “We just have so many clubs, it’s such a big thing.”

There is Alberta’s Chelsea Carey, who lost her first Manitoba final to Jones in 2012, then beat Einarson to take the province two years later. There is Jones, who returned from the Olympics to reclaim the buffalo jacket in 2015, also beating Einarson in the final. Then there is Einarson, who finally got her title.

It’s a theme so interwoven through this Scotties that even the phrase “battle of Manitoba” has been worn hopelessly threadbare this week. There were three such games in the round robin. There was another in the 1-vs-2 Page playoff Friday night. There could be another in the semifinal, or the championship match.

This situation has never happened. In its Thursday night broadcast, TSN rummaged up the curious fact that since the introduction of the Page playoff format in 1995, a Team Canada and the team from its home province have never entered the playoffs together. Add Carey, and it’s a whole other story.

What does it mean to see three consecutive Manitoba champions make it to the Scotties weekend, in different jackets but riding on shared and rival history?

Sure, the preponderance of Manitobans could be a quirk of how this year’s provincial playdowns shook out. Maybe that third-place spot for Einarson wouldn’t have been open if Rachel Homan had been here, or Saskatchewan’s Stefanie Lawton. On the other hand, what-ifs don’t sweep rocks or call shots.

Besides, the strength of the sport is a legacy passed down through culture and tradition, and maybe even in curlers’ DNA itself. As Dan Carey watched his daughter take on Jennifer Jones, the 1992 Brier champ and former Vic Peters third remembered watching his own parents sliding down the ice.

“Curling was what we did in the winter,” Dan Carey said. “It was either hockey, or curling. I think it’s the prairies, it was part of the social fabric.”

These days, Carey pointed out, that’s changing. But his generation has done its part in quite literally making and bringing up the next generation of top curlers. Heck, just consider the curious case of the 2016 Scotties’ second all-star team — one that reminds how strong curling bloodlines can be.

With all-stars selected purely on the basis of shotmaking percentage, the first all-star team was composed of the entire Team Canada: Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn McEwen all had the highest cumulative numbers at their position.

The four second-best performers at their positions are all children of competitors at the memorable 1993 Brier — including two descendants of Manitoba’s iconic Team Vic Peters, and two offspring of rivals that bounced them in that year’s four-way tiebreakers.

At skip is Carey; at vice is Saskatchewan’s Ashley Howard, daughter of ‘93 Brier champion Russ Howard. At second is Peters’ daughter Liz Fyfe of Manitoba; and at lead is Northern Ontario’s Sarah Potts, whose dad Rick Lang once played for Al Hackner and earned a bronze as skip at the ’93 nationals.

So, would Peters, Carey, Howard and Lang have ever guessed back then, their daughters would end up on the same Scotties all-star team 23 years later?

“No, that’s pretty unusual,” Dan Carey said, and laughed. “As a matter of fact, I thought about that through the week, and kind of kept an eye on the percentages. I thought, ‘1993, there’s four girls curling in this, and four dads here… what if that happens?’ It’s kind of neat that it did.”

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca