Fill-in Walker feeling right at home with Team Lawes

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This article was published 20/02/2023 (982 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Laura Walker is curling with a Manitoba-based team for the first time but feels right at home with Kaitlyn Lawes.

Walker, who hails from Edmonton, is filling in at third this week in Kamloops, B.C., at the 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts for a pregnant Selena Njegovan for Wild Card no. 1. The group, which had the day off Monday, is 2-1 heading into Tuesday’s morning draw against Saskatchewan’s Robyn Silvernagle (1-3) at the Canadian women’s championship.

“They are extremely supportive and extremely welcoming. They make it really easy to be comfortable,” Walker said Monday.

“Obviously, I don’t want to make mistakes, but they’ve created an environment where it’s OK to make mistakes and everyone just kind of talks about it together and then moves on. If you want to know what unconditional support looks like, you just have to look no further than Team Lawes.”

Walker skipped Alberta at the last three nationals but took a step back from four-person curling this past offseason after giving to birth to her second son, Weston, in July. To spend more time at home, Walker (who is married to Brad Gushue lead Geoff Walker) pivoted her curling focus to mixed doubles where she competes with Kirk Muyres.

But for Walker, 32, a chance to help a contender like Fort Rouge’s Lawes was too good to pass up. When Lawes took some time off this season to give birth to her baby girl Myla in December, Njegovan moved to skip and Walker jumped in at third. Walker fit in right away, as she helped the team win the Stu Sells 1824 Halifax Classic in November in her debut.

“I am very much at peace with my decision (to step back). I’ve had a lot of fun curling this year and I’m kind of refreshed and renewed to put my best foot forward to train as well as I can,” said Walker, who won bronze at the 2021 Scotties and the 2018 Canadian Mixed Doubles title with Muyres.

“Everything is going as well as I could’ve hoped and I’m really happy these girls have included me in their plans. Playing at this level and being at the Scotties is always a dream, and I’m grateful to be here, but I’m really happy with what I’m doing. I’m having a lot of fun playing with Kirk and really enjoying myself.”

Prior to this week, the only time Walker and Lawes have been on the ice together was last month’s Canadian Open in Camrose, Alta. They went 2-3 and lost 8-1 to Jennifer Jones in their final qualifying round match. But the two have been building a connection away from the sport as Lawes has gone to Walker for advice on how to balance pregnancy/taking care of a newborn while being a competitive curler.

Walker had her first son, Liam, in 2020.

“She’s been incredible. She’s been a great friend to lean on. I’ve asked her so many questions, even before Myla was born, and she’s just been super supportive,” said Lawes.

“She’s just said to do what I need to do, to take care of myself, and that her door is always open if I ever need anything. I just feel really lucky to be able to lean on her. She’s been through everything I’m going through right now. We’re very lucky to have that support.”

Lawes, who has Jocelyn Peterman at second and Kristin MacCuish at lead, started the 18-team event with a 8-5 win over Alberta’s Kayla Skrlik. They then beat Nova Scotia’s Christina Black, who went into Monday’s late draw against Team Canada’s Kerri Einarson (4-0) at 3-1, by a 6-5 score.

Lawes’ lone loss came against Einarson on Sunday as the reigning, three-time champion came away with a 10-9 result in an extra end affair where neither team played to their full potential.

“I’m just really proud of how we grinded throughout the game to hang in there with them. Certainly, it was disappointing to lose that one, you don’t very often get very many misses from a team like Team Canada so I would’ve liked to have seen a different result, but we have a lot we can take forward,” said Walker.

“Knowing we weren’t at our best and took it right down to the end is encouraging for the rest of the week.”

The preliminary round wraps up Thursday with the top three teams in each pool advancing to the championship round.

“We have a lot of trust and belief in each other’s abilities,” said Lawes, who’s in her first Scotties as a skip.

“… We just believe that we do have the skillset and if we can put it all together at the right time then we hope to be in the hunt at the end of the week.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31