From Barbies to bonspiels

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This article was published 20/02/2021 (1928 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Chelsea Carey and Liz Fyfe had a tight bond as kids and now find themselves joined at the hip at the Scotties.

Carey was recruited to skip Tracy Fleury’s East St. Paul team, which includes Fyfe, at the national women’s curling championship inside the Calgary bubble.

The former next-door neighbours used to play Barbies together and splash about in each other’s swimming pools in North Kildonan. They were rink rats, too, scampering around local clubs, primarily the venerable Granite, oblivious to the success their fathers were having on the other side of the glass.

Fyfe’s late father, Vic Peters, and Carey’s dad, Dan, captured the 1992 Brier in Regina together, as skip and third, respectively, for Manitoba. Chris Neufeld and Don Rudd joined them on the front end.

“Chelsea was a little bit older than me, so she got to go to some of the events while I stayed home. Otherwise, we were in the rink all the time together as kids, at the Granite lots or wherever they were playing,” Fyfe said Saturday. “We both had pools, so there was lots of swimming with all the kids.

“We’re always going to have that history together, so it’s been nice to play together again. We haven’t played together since we were in juniors when we were very young, back in the day.”

Peters died March 27, 2016 at the age of 61 after a five-year battle with cancer.

Fyfe said she feels the warmth of her father’s spirit each time she steps onto the ice.

“It’s definitely when I feel the closest to him, being in those same situations he was in. I didn’t understand it at the time and now it’s just a whole another connection,” she said. “I wish he was here to be able to talk with him about it. It’s definitely when I feel the biggest connection when I’m out there playing.”

Playing as Team Wild Card 1, Fleury’s crew earned its way into the Canadian championship as the highest-ranked team (second) in the CTRS standings without a provincial berth. But Fleury stayed home in Sudbury, Ont., to be with her seven-month-old daughter, Nina, who is receiving treatment for a rare form of epilepsy.

Carey’s own Calgary team disbanded after last year’s Canadian championship in Moose Jaw, Sask., and the former Winnipegger was ready and willing to fill in.

On Saturday morning, the former two-time Scotties champion (with Alberta in 2016, ’19), guided third Selena Njegovan, second Fyfe and lead Kristin MacCuish to a 6-3 victory over Lori Eddy of Nunavut in the championship opener for both squads.

Carey, 36, who has lived in Calgary for the last six years, hadn’t fire a rock in competitive play since the 2020 Scotties in Moose Jaw, Sask., yet she finished with a tidy 85 per-cent accuracy in her first assignment of a long week.

Not too shabby, indeed.

“Yeah, not play a game in a year, pick up a brand new team, come to the Scotties and play a 10-end game, no big deal,” she joked, on a Zoom chat with reporters. “It was great. It felt kind of normal once we got going, which is what we figured. It was a lot of fun.

Carey admitted there was some rust to scrape off early.

“There was some rusty moments, I’m not going to lie. But I’ve been able to throw a little bit for about a week, so I felt not to bad coming in, I thought, considering how long it’s been. That went pretty seamlessly. We had a couple of moments where we were like, ‘Oops’ that probably wouldn’t happen at a normal Scotties.”

Carey’s crew kept rolling on the late draw with a resounding 9-2 win over Manitoba representative Jennifer Jones in a Pool B matchup.

The expanded 18-team Scotties field is divided into two pools of nine. The top four from each after round-robin play advance to the championship round, which determines the three playoff teams next weekend.

Carey, who has a bison logo on her back despite being a wild-card entry, said she’s thrilled to have a connection to home again.

“It feels pretty cool. It’s back to my roots. My first Scotties (2014) was as Manitoba, so I’ve come full circle now,” she said. “I’m grateful to these girls for letting me have it. It’s been a blast. I love both provinces. Any province you get to wear at the Scotties is awesome.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell