Englot’s foursome has lofty ambitions

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This article was published 12/10/2017 (3106 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Michelle Englot lives and works in Regina and curls with her Winnipeg-based team. That hasn’t changed.

This season, however, the 53-year-old Englot is hoping for a slightly more uplifting conclusion to the story. Last year, her dream year ended with a heartbreaking loss to Ontario’s Rachel Homan in the Scotties national women’s curling final. While it’s impossible to forecast what the 2017-18 season will bring, Englot and rinkmates Kate Cameron, Leslie Wilson and Raunora Westcott have lofty ambitions.

Reaching the Scotties final secured a berth in the Roar of the Rings Olympic trials in Ottawa, and has put them in position to do something really big. The trials winner will advance to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February.

“We’re significantly further ahead in my mind,” said Englot via telephone earlier this week. “We’ve developed some really great team processes and it’s just a matter of building on the season and trying to play a little more consistently.”

It will be difficult to top beating Homan twice at the Scotties before succumbing in the final to the three-time national champion, but the Granite foursome is playing with fire and purpose.

“Confidence comes into play for sure,” said Englot, who was recruited to replace Kristy McDonald before the 2016-17 season. “Again, it’s a matter of knowing team tendencies and knowing how to get the best out of your team on the ice. That all is a lot easier this year because last year, I hadn’t played with the girls previously, and so you’re stepping into a whole new thing. This year, it feels like we’ve travelled a lot of miles together.”

It’s also clear they won’t be flying under the radar.

“We noticed in Calgary on the weekend that every team we’re playing seems to be bringing their A-game against us, so we know we need to play well against every team that’s playing on the World Curling Tour (WCT),” said Englot, who is permitted to compete for Manitoba under a Curling Canada rule that allows one non-resident player per team.

Englot won the Mother Club Fall Classic in Winnipeg last month, beating Kerri Einarson of East St. Paul in the final, while also adding a third-place finish and two fifths in other World Curling Tour events.

“We did sit down and look at our schedule and decide what we felt we needed to do leading up to the trials,” Englot said. “I think we have a pretty good plan going forward here, one that gives us a little break and some practice time and then one more event before the trials.”

But making everything work while factoring in extra travel time can be a logistical headache. After using up all her regular vacation time with her employer SaskTel, she will need to take time off without pay to compete in Ottawa.

Englot’s team will play in four more WCT events between now and the Olympic trials, including a stop at the Canad Inn Women’s Classic in Portage la Prairie, Oct. 20-23, where they will compete with a number of elite teams for the $60,000 purse.

Among the top-flight competitors in Portage, Englot’s team is likely to face seven-time Manitoba champion Jennifer Jones along the way.

Jones and rinkmates Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn McEwen are a powerhouse, and the gold medallists will be hungry to defend their Olympic title in South Korea.

However, Jones was knocked off by fellow St. Vital club member Shannon Birchard last month at Saskatoon’s Colonial Square Classic, and Birchard is a leading member of a group of Manitobans heading to the Olympic pre-trial qualifier Nov. 6-12 in Summerside, P.E.I.

Einarson, Darcy Robertson and Briane Meilleur are also heading to the pre-trials while former Manitoba champ Chelsea Carey, third Cathy Overton-Clapham and her Alberta squad have already qualified for the trials in Ottawa. The top two women’s and men’s teams from Summerside will advance to Ottawa.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14