Alberta downs defending champion Jones to start Canadian curling championship

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This article was published 20/02/2016 (3833 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. – Taking over an elite curling team from an elite skip and expecting wins immediately is a tall order.

Chelsea Carey says third Amy Nixon’s vast experience smoothed out a lot of wrinkles in her first season skipping the Calgary team.

Nixon played vice for Shannon Kleibrink in three Canadian women’s curling championship and won a bronze medal with her at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

She was also former Canadian champion Heather Nedohin’s third for two seasons before Nedohin decided to take a break from the game last year.

A curling team is a blend of personalities and a test of communication. The skip-vice relationship requires a particular diplomacy because of the pressure curling puts on them in strategy and shotmaking.

“The easiest part of the transition was the relationship between Amy and I on the ice,” Carey said Saturday. “A lot of people were speculating because we’re both pretty intense and fiery, it was going to be a disaster and it was the opposite of that.

“It was phenomenal right from the start and we didn’t really have to talk about our chatter on the ice. It’s been huge to have her experience and just the amount of third she’s played she knows what it takes to be a great third and she is that.”

Carey’s debut skipping Alberta at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts was a successful one as the host team downed defending champion Jennifer Jones 12-5 in Saturday’s opening draw.

Saskatchewan’s Jolene Campbell, Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche, Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson, Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville and Prince Edward Island’s Suzanne Birt also opened with victories at Revolution Place.

B.C.’s Karla Thompson gained entry into the 12-team main draw with an 8-5 win over Kerry Galusha of Northwest Territories. The Kamloops rink then lost their first game 10-2 to Manitoba.

Stacie Curtis of Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick’s Sylvie Robichaud, Nova Scotia’s Jill Brothers and Ontario’s Jenn Hanna joined Jones and Thompson at 0-1.

Carey, who is from Winnipeg, skipped Manitoba to a 9-2 record two years ago at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. The 31-year-old moved to Alberta the following year and lost the 2015 provincial final to Val Sweeting with a different team.

Stepping in this winter for Nedohin, Carey, Nixon, second Jocelyn Peterman and lead Laine Peters downed Sweeting in this year’s Alberta championship.

They were in hurry-up mode this season learning each other’s personalities on and off the ice.

“It was definitely an adjustment for me and for them,” the skip said. “We spent a lot of time both on the ice trying to figure out how to read each other’s throws and for sweeping and judging and all that kind of thing.

“We also spent a lot of time off the ice talking about dynamics and chemistry and what everybody needs to hear and where we need to be mentally and all that kind of stuff. We saw some results from that.”

Nixon, 38, says adapting to her new skip has been a two-way street.

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“I’ve played third for a long time and I can figure people out. She’s a smart woman, so she’s figured me out too,” Nixon said.

“I think it says a lot more about her than anyone else that she came with three players she’s never played with before ever and certainly never expected to play with I think. I put the lion’s share of our success on Chelsea and her smarts in the house.”

Carey outcurled her counterpart Jones 90 per cent to 78 in Saturday’s opener. The defending champions, also from Winnipeg, gave up a steal of four in the third end and fell behind 5-0.

Jones clawed her way back into the game with a wide double to score three in the eighth and trail 7-5. But when Carey executed a pair of precise hits for a five-point end, Jones shook hands after nine.

“If you’re going to give up a steal of four, the first game of the event is the one to do it in,” Jones said. “It’s the first game, so we’re OK. It gives us a little kick in the butt coming into tomorrow.”