‘It was crazy that it was that close’

Team Kaitlyn Lawes is headed to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts by the slimmest of margins.

Their fate was no longer in their hands after losing to Beth Peterson in the Manitoba women’s curling provincial final in Rivers earlier this month.

“Honestly, I assumed we were hooped,” Lawes told the Free Press in a chat on Tuesday.

“I hadn’t looked at (the Canadian Team Ranking System) before provincials and we just had the goal in mind of going in there and wanting to win and earn our spot. And after the game was over, we had some texts from people saying, ‘Don’t be too upset, we think there’s a chance that you’re in.’”

Lawes had to sit around and wait before it was officially announced on Monday that the final spot in the 18-team field was theirs.

With two-time defending national champion Rachel Homan representing the country at the Olympics, Gimli’s Kerri Einarson — who had already pre-qualified for the Scotties — is now playing as Team Canada at the Mississauga, Ont., event (Jan. 23-Feb. 1). That meant Einarson’s pre-qualified berth was up for grabs and once all the provincial playdowns had wrapped up, No. 4-ranked Lawes (151.450) just barely made the cut over No. 5-ranked Serena Gray-Withers of Alberta (151.225) in the CTRS for the right to hit the ice with the nation’s best.

“Wild. You could say that,” said Lawes.

“We’re very excited for the opportunity. Obviously, we were disappointed with the way provincials ended for us and being so close, so, we’re thrilled to have that last spot and sneak in there. The point stuff isn’t really the thing that I follow. But once everyone was doing the math afterwards and filling me in, it was crazy that it was that close. It could’ve gone either way.”

While Lawes, third Selena Njegovan, second Jocelyn Peterman, and lead Kristin Gordon have been ranked high throughout this quadrennial, they’ve yet to win a major event together outside of provincials. They went 4-3 at the Canadian Curling Trials in Halifax in November only to miss out on the playoffs in a tiebreaker. And in their three Scotties together, they’ve yet to finish in the top four.

After appearing in the previous three Olympics — 2014 Sochi and 2022 Beijing as a third for Jennifer Jones, and 2018 Pyeongchang in mixed doubles with John Morris — and winning two gold medals, this four-year cycle has been unique for Lawes for reasons not just related to curling.

“I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting, and it’s been, I’d say, the biggest life-changing quad for me having two kids in the span of two years, and a lot of personal changes in my life. It’s brought me a lot of joy being a mom, and it’s also been a new challenge of being away and trying to figure out what that all looks like,” said Lawes, 37.

“On the ice, it’s been up and down. I would’ve loved to have made every shot for my teammates and had a little more success, but I still love the game, we fight for each other, and we go out there and do our best. So, that part of it has been really great and I’ve genuinely really enjoyed my time with my teammates and no one has worked harder than the three girls in front of me so it’s been a privilege to play with them and see Selena and Jocelyn go through motherhood as well.

“It’s been a different quad compared to the previous three Olympic cycles I’ve been to before, but all very satisfying in their own different ways.”

At the Scotties, Laura Walker will fill in for Peterman who will be at the Olympics playing mixed doubles with her husband Brett Gallant. Njegovan will continue to call the game for the team — a role she took on this season — while Lawes will sweep and throw the final rocks.

“We’ve done that all season and it’s been a fun new challenge going back to sweeping. I think (Njegovan) has a very smart mind for the game, and I think she calls a great game,” said Lawes.

“Honestly, I think the biggest thing is the sweeping and the recovery… I switched this summer to go back into sweeping training and it’s been fun. I enjoy that part of the game.”

This curling off-season will be hectic — like it always is after an Olympic year — with lots of teams shaking up their rosters in hopes of finding the right recipe to knock off Homan, or Brad Jacobs on the men’s side. It remains to be seen what that will look like for Lawes and her foursome and whether she wants to continue skipping.

“I’m really just focused on the lineup that we have right now and the Scotties.”

“To be honest, I haven’t really thought of the future. I’m really just focused on the lineup that we have right now and the Scotties,” said Lawes.

“I want to give it my all and see what happens at the end of the week in Mississauga and that’ll be a future conversation to have.”

With Homan out of the picture, this year’s Scotties is truly up for grabs. Einarson, Lawes, Kayla Skrlik (Alberta), Christina Black (Nova Scotia), and countless others all have a legitimate shot at winning and going on to the World Women’s Curling Championship in Calgary in March.

Even though they didn’t punch their ticket to the big dance the way they wanted to, Lawes can still cap off the quad with a major statement.

“We always said if we’re not the team that goes to the Olympics, we want to be the team that wins the Scotties,” said Lawes.

“We’re gonna go and play our hearts out no matter how we qualified. They’re allowing us to play and that’s a privilege. We’re just gonna play until they tell us we can’t anymore… Any time you have a chance to represent Canada at the worlds at home would be an absolute honour and I’d love to be able to do that with this team.”

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