Pandemic déjà vu as Einarson’s season debut iced

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This article was published 13/11/2020 (1819 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

At least they got six ends in this time.

Kerri Einarson’s curling crew had an insurmountable lead Thursday afternoon when word of the abrupt cancellation of the Okotoks Ladies Classic filtered to players on the ice. Restrictions put in place by Alberta Health Services — owing to the rapid rise in COVID-19 numbers in the province recently — quashed almost every sporting event south of Calgary for the next two weeks, including the women’s cash bonspiel.

And just like that, the Gimli-based foursome’s season debut was peeled out by the pandemic, in similar fashion to how the closing event of Einarson’s remarkable 2019-20 women’s curling campaign was called off.

Of course, the stakes and prestige were far greater in March.

The veteran skip, third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Briane Meilleur — representing Canada after winning the Scotties national crown in Moose Jaw, Sask., in February — were already in Prince George, B.C., when the world championship was scrapped just 48 hours before the first rocks were to be tossed.

Einarson admits to feeling an instant sense of “here we go again” as she was wrapping up an easy victory over Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque at Okotoks Curling Club.

“It brought back some old memories, that’s for sure,” she said during a phone chat Thursday night. “We got here and had a solid practice (Wednesday) and then had our first game, played really well and then got the news in the sixth end that the event was being postponed. We were up 10-2 at that point, so they decided to just call it.”

Without the time-honoured tradition of handshakes now considered taboo in the age of coronavirus, she quickly added.

Einarson said the team was ecstatic to finally play a meaningful game, more than eight months after an emotional 8-7 extra-end triumph over Ontario’s Rachel Homan 8-7 in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts final Feb. 24.

“It’s frustrating but I get it. It’s devastating for it to happen again. We were very excited to get onto the ice and play some of the top teams in Canada,” said Einarson, who works as a health-care aide at Betel Home Foundation. “But at the end of the day we can’t change anything, and we just go with the flow and keep smiling.

“We’ve been taking every precaution to stay healthy and safe, for me to not bring anything back to my family or my job. Everyone’s health and safety is far more important right now.”

Einarson now firmly believes she won’t curl again until the calendar flips to 2021.

“We’ll just keep doing all our off-ice stuff to stay in shape,” she said. “With what’s happening in the world, we just have to take it day by day and just hope one day all this will be gone.”

The team is ranked No. 1 in Canada and second in the world behind Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg, and has already secured an Olympic Trials berth.

Einarson will return to the 2021 Scotties as Team Canada, originally slated for Thunder Bay in late February but now expected to be part of a “bubble” in Calgary that could include the Brier national men’s champion and other majors such as the Canada Cup and the world men’s championship.

Hindering their on-ice training has been the changing health restrictions in Manitoba.

Just a few weeks ago, Einarson could practise with Birchard and Meilleur in Winnipeg. The rules changed in early November and the mother of twin girls had to stay put in Gimli but could throw rocks there; now, all recreation facilities, including curling clubs, are closed in Manitoba with a move to code red, or critical, on the province’s pandemic response system.

Sweeting, meanwhile, resides in Alberta and has been practising regularly, but that will likely change.

“The guidelines keep changing and it’s really challenging to keep up with them,” said recently recruited coach Heather Nedohin, a two-time national champion, adding she’s been impressed by the team’s positive attitude and determination. “They’ve handled some adversity, but it’s through these trying moments that you continue to evolve as an athlete, whether it’s mentally, physically or emotionally.

“We first met through a phone call and then we talked through Zoom meetings for I don’t know how many months, and then the excitement and joy when you finally meet each other. I have to admit I’m a fan of theirs, too. It is a pleasure to watch them. They are dynamic, they are special.”

Einarson admitted she didn’t exactly deliver the goods with her first two stones against Rocque.

“I had a tricky shot to lie two. I had perfect weight and everything to play the tap but it just didn’t curl enough. And then my second one, trying for the blank and I nosed,” she said, laughing. “I got off to a rough start but we picked it up after that.”

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The DEKALB SuperSpiel, originally scheduled for Nov. 27-30 in Morris, has been postponed to Jan. 29-Feb. 1.

A comprehensive draw for an all-Manitoba field of 18 men’s teams (with Jason Gunnlaugson, Mike McEwen, Braden Calvert, Jacques Gauthier, William Lyburn and Tanner Horgan in the mix) and 12 women’s squads (featuring Einarson, Jennifer Jones, Tracy Fleury, Mackenzie Zacharias and Darcy Robertson) had been finalized,

However, the makeup of the bonspiel — slotted between the Viterra men’s and Scotties women’s championships — will almost assuredly change.

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Jones, with Kaitlyn Lawes, Jocelyn Peterman and Lisa Weagle, was also among the teams that departed Okotoks early. The team suffered a 7-1 thrashing by Homan in their lone game Thursday.

Meanwhile, McEwen and his team of Reid Carruthers, Derek Samagalski and Colin Hodgson make their season debut today. They’re on the ice against Steven Laycock of B.C. as the Ashley HomeStore Curling Classic unfolds in Penticton, B.C.

The 24-team weekend event has an $84,000 purse.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell