Mom’s the word as Team Lawes finds its footing in second year together

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This article was published 08/01/2024 (649 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Team Kaitlyn Lawes refers to the 2024 curling season as Year 1 2.0.

It’s a fitting name considering all the lineup changes Lawes, third Selena Njegovan, second Jocelyn Peterman, and lead Kristin MacCuish went through in their debut campaign in 2022-23.

To quickly summarize, Lawes took some time off to deliver her first child. When the two-time Olympic gold medallist returned to play Manitoba provincials, Njegovan had to leave the ice as her first child was due in a few short months. Jill Officer filled in at provincials, and Laura Walker took over at third for the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Kamloops where Lawes and Co. qualified as Wild Card 1 before losing a tiebreaker game to Nova Scotia to miss out on playoffs.

“Last year was kind of all over the place. It was a revolving door of players, and we never knew who was going to be playing,” said Njegovan. “We’ve been kind of using this year as a first year of getting to know who Team Lawes is.”

Still, it’s been an eventful season for the team, with Peterman — the team’s import out of Alberta — giving birth in June, the Fort Rouge Curling Club foursome now features three first-time moms.

“It’s just been a new adventure for all. We’re trying to navigate what a full curling season looks like together with our new families. It’s been a lot of fun, and a lot of fun watching the kids grow up together,” said Lawes.

“It’s a lot of time management, organizing, and figuring out childcare so we can go to the gym, go to practice, and then figuring out if our families are travelling with us and the babies, or if the babies are staying home. It’s a lot of juggling and a bit different than what we’re used to of just kind of worrying about ourselves before.”

Even though their lives are now a lot busier away from the ice, they’re still having success at the rink as they’re ranked fourth in the Canadian Team Ranking System heading into the Grand Slam of Curling’s Canadian Open in Red Deer, Alta., (Jan. 15-20).

However, despite their impressive ranking, they haven’t won an event this season. Their one finals appearance came at the GSOC’s HearingLife Tour Challenge in October in Niagara Falls, Ont., when Lawes fell 7-4 to her former teammate, Jennifer Jones.

“Obviously, we go into every event hoping we can go into some finals and have a chance at winning. But for us, being in a building year, kind of our first season where we’re all together, I don’t think we necessarily have to have different expectations, but we have to understand that it might not happen right away, so we need to have a good perspective on that,” said Lawes.

Grabbing their first victory later this month at the Manitoba Scotties Morden (Jan. 23-28) would be good timing, but it won’t be necessary. With the three teams ahead of them having pre-qualified for nationals (Ontario’s Rachel Homan, Jones, and Gimli’s Kerri Einarson), Lawes can rely on being a wild-card again. There was supposed to be one berth, but there will now be two as Curling Canada announced Monday that Nunavut has withdrawn from the 2024 Scotties in Calgary (Feb. 16-25).

That could end up boding well for New Bothwell’s Kate Cameron who’s currently holding onto the No. 8 position in the CTRS. Or Jolene Campbell, a veteran out of Regina who took over a young Manitoba team this year that features Abby Ackland, Rachel Erickson and Sara Oliver, as she resides in ninth and trails Cameron by just one point.

If Lawes (Manitoba), Selena Sturmay (Alberta), Corryn Brown (B.C.), and Danielle Inglis (Ontario) — all teams ranked in the top seven — get the job done in their respective provinces, the door is open for Cameron or Campbell to wear wild-card colours.

“We haven’t really been focusing on that ranking or wild-card spot at all. Our goal all season has been to win this provincial championship,” said Lawes.

“We really would like to be Team Manitoba at the Scotties this year and I think it would be a big confidence boost for us if we could accomplish that.”

Lawes, Cameron and Campbell won’t be the only contenders in Morris as Beth Peterson (No. 14 in the CTRS) and Kristy Watling (No. 20) will also be vying for the Buffalo jacket.

“In Manitoba, no matter who’s in it, it’s always so, so hard,” said Njegovan. “We know that we have to play our best.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31