Heating up the Scotties ice

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This article was published 25/01/2018 (3005 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

So much will be different at this year’s Scotties: a new format, more teams, a fresh crop of rookies. Yet for fans here, on the eastern edge of the Prairies, the top of this year’s field will look familiar — in fact, it looks a whole lot like home.

For three favoured contenders, the road to the Canadian women’s curling championship ran through Manitoba.

There’s Jennifer Jones, as Manitoba champion, and Michelle Englot, as Team Canada. Then there’s a new wild-card spot, which will belong to Chelsea Carey or Kerri Einarson. All former buffalo gals; all have high hopes in Penticton.

And there are stories here waiting to be written. Jones, the top seed, is hunting another piece of Canadian curling history. Englot, the 2017 Manitoba champion, is looking to tie one last ribbon on a decorated three-decade career.

They will have a chance to chase the maple leaf when the 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts kicks off Saturday in Penticton, B.C. Now, before the tournament gets underway, a peek at some of what is in store.

The format

This year’s Scotties will debut an entirely new 16-team format, designed to solve a few gnawing problems.

Gone is the old 12-team round robin, where everyone played each other. Also gone is the qualifying pre-tournament for the four lowest-ranked teams. Now, all 14 regional winners, plus Team Canada, will join the main Scotties draw.

The field is rounded out by a brand new berth, this one going to one of the two highest-ranked Canadian teams that didn’t win a jacket. This year, that means Carey and Einarson will face off on Friday in a high-stakes play-in game.

With the expanded field, teams will be divided into two round-robin pools of eight. The top four finishers in each group will advance to play each other in a championship round, from which the Scotties’ four playoff spots will be decided.

These changes, which will also debut at this year’s Brier, mean regions such as Yukon or Nunavut will be guaranteed time at national competitions. But the exact shape of the solution has been met with ambivalence.

For instance, while Jones welcomes the new Canadian ranking berth, she isn’t sold on splitting the field into pools or the championship round. She would have been open to having all 16 teams playing each other in a full round robin.

“If everybody wanted to be included, let’s have one from each province or territory, the top CTRS (ranking), and off you go,” Jones says. “I really try to keep an open mind, and it’s the first time we’ve tried it, so we’ll give ‘er a go.”

 

Jennifer Jones, Team Manitoba

The heartache of missing an Olympic repeat hasn’t totally faded, though winning a record-setting eighth Manitoba championship eased the sting. But for Jennifer Jones, there is still a chance to make curling history this season.

If Jones wins her sixth Canadian title, she will tie Colleen Jones’ all-time record. And the records aren’t what drives her — it’s the moments, she says, and the love of the game — but that’s not to say they aren’t on her radar, either.

“They’re not why I play,” she says. “But when you accomplish it, does it mean something to you? Absolutely. As I’m nearing the end of my career, I think back: we’ll be forever remembered in the sport. We’ll be in the record books.”

Either way, this Scotties will bring a new buzz to time-tested Team Jones. With Kaitlyn Lawes off to represent Canada at the Olympics’ mixed doubles event, the team recruited rising Manitoba star Shannon Birchard to fill in at third.

Birchard, 23, is eager to soak up lessons from the team. She’ll bring her own talents to them, too: not only does Birchard “have all the shots,” Jones says, but the mixed doubles Olympic trials proved she’s a good sweeper.

Plus, she’ll bring fresh energy to a veteran team — and that has Jones thinking back to her own Scotties debut.

“I remember my first Scotties in Brandon (in 2002) so vividly because I had dreamed of it so long,” Jones says. “I thought, if this was the only Scotties I ever had, then my curling career would be a success.

“You’ve watched it your whole life on TV, so that moment it becomes a reality… I don’t think we’ve ever lost that perspective, but it’s a great reminder when you get to see it through the eyes of someone else for the first time.”

And maybe this will be Jones’ last Scotties — or maybe not. That’s a decision she will leave until after the season.

“I still love to play, and still feel like we can compete at the highest level,” she says. “If I didn’t think we could do all those things, I’d definitely stop playing. But I feel like we can, and could for the next four years.”

 

Michelle Englot, Team Canada

Thirty years since Michelle Englot made her Scotties debut as a skip, she will take her last spin on national ice.

Of course, whenever a lifelong curler says they’re hanging up their sliders, it’s good practice to take it with a grain of salt; there’s no shortage of “retired” players who slid right back into the sport. Yet for now, Englot is sticking to it.

“It’s a really hard thing to give up, because the people in the sport are so great and it’s part of our lives,” she says. “The hardest part would be giving up the camaraderie you get with your teammates… that’s the part I’ll miss most.”

What a career she’s had, and what a way to end it. Englot was an eight-time Saskatchewan champion until last year, when she was recruited by third Kate Cameron, second Leslie Wilson and lead Raunora Westcott to lead their unit.

The team caught fire. They blazed a trail to the 2017 Manitoba championship, and seized first place in the national round robin. When they met Rachel Homan in the final, it was one of the most thrilling Scotties games in memory.

Homan won, that time. But on the strength of that dream season, Englot’s team clinched an Olympic trials berth.

But this season, the foursome struggled. They finished a disappointing 2-6 at the trials; looking back, Englot says, it was as if they put too much pressure on themselves. The magic, the fun of the previous season had gone missing.

“That’s what we lost this year,” Englot says. “We talked about it after the Olympic trials and said ‘hey, let’s just get back to doing what worked for us, and play loose and have fun, and hopefully things will come together for us.'”

That message worked. At last week’s Canadian Open, the team battled the long way through a triple knockout to make playoffs, then defeated Jones in the semifinal. They fell to Carey in the final, but still — it was a statement.

Now, they will head into Scotties as Team Canada; that honour fell to them when Homan won the Olympic trials. It’s not quite the way most curlers dream of getting their maple leaf jacket, but no complaints, Team Englot will take it.

“Our goal is to go in and win the event, and prove that we do deserve to wear it,” Englot says.

 

The wild cards: Chelsea Carey and Kerri Einarson

Two former Manitoba champions, two perennial contenders. Both are ranked high in Canada: Einarson is fourth, Carey is second. Both lost their respective provincial semifinals; now, they have one last shot to make the draw.

They’ll meet on Friday night, in a play-in wild-card game. The winner will enter Scotties as fourth seed.

Who has the edge? By the numbers, it’s Carey — she’s ranked higher, and is outright dangerous when she catches fire. On the other hand, 2016 Manitoba champ Einarson has beaten Carey all three times they’ve met this season.

The wild card game is set for Friday (8:30 p.m. CT).

 

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca