Tran joins Peterson rink for Scotties

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This article was published 11/02/2021 (1925 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Beth Peterson’s curling team from Winnipeg has undergone a tough but unavoidable front-end realignment for the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Calgary.

Brittany Tran will toss lead rocks for the squad at the Canadian women’s championship, replacing Melissa Gordon, who won’t be making the trip west owing to work commitments.

The 10-day event begins Friday, Feb. 19 inside a restrictive bubble without spectators — owing to the COVID-19 pandemic — at WinSport Arena at Canada Olympic Park. Peterson’s crew from the Assiniboine Memorial Club plays Yukon’s Laura Eby on the lone draw of Day 1, set for 7:30 p.m. (CT).

“It just sucks we had to make that decision. (Gordon) is 25 per cent of the reason this team is invited, she’s just as important as the rest of us, so it’s tough,” Peterson said this week. “Melissa made the decision on her own and we respect it and support her, and she’ll be with us as much as she can, just not physically. We’ll have FaceTime and Zoom and constant texting.”

Gordon, a two-time Manitoba junior champion (including 2015 with Peterman), is an early childhood educator. She was unable to secure enough time off from the child-care centre that employs her to accommodate not only nearly two weeks for the championship but also a mandatory 14-day quarantine upon her return home.

“It’s just a lot of time off work,” said Gordon. “I was hoping we might get an exemption from the quarantine (from provincial health officials) but nothing’s been announced, yet. It’s definitely disappointing but I’m confident our team will make it there again in the future.

“I’ll be hoping they get TV games so I can watch them, and checking the line score probably every 30 seconds.”

Peterson, third Jenna Loder and second Katherine Doerksen will all make their Scotties debuts. The team, one of five from Manitoba in the expanded 18-team field, gained the final wild-card berth based on its 12th-place spot on the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS).

While the excitement level continues to ramp up, Peterson admitted experiencing a dream gig without her first cousin and teammate for more than 20 years will be difficult.

“It’s not a situation that we saw ourselves being in,” Peterson said. “I’ve never gone to any event without Melissa, so it’s going to be weird travelling without her. She’s kind of been my person since, well, since birth, the person I lean on.

“That’s the COVID world we’re living in, having to make these unprecedented decisions. Workplaces are being put in tough situations, too. Even with my work, it’s been a constant conversation about what’s happening. Places are already working short, whether it’s people being off with COVID or people have to quarantine… I feel for workplaces and employers, too,” added the 26-year-old skip, a radiation therapist at CancerCare Manitoba.

“But we’re really excited to play with Brittany. She’s a great player and she’s been there before.”

Tran, 27, who lives in Calgary, injects some Scotties experience into the starting four. She played with Kerry Galusha of Northwest Territories at the 2019 championship in Sydney, N.S.

It was Peterson’s fifth player, Cathy Overton-Clapham, a five-time Scotties champion and 2008 world champion, who reached out to Tran last week with a unique request.

“I can’t say I was expecting it. I was definitely surprised and excited. It’s unfortunate Melissa can’t go but I’m just glad they ask me to help out,” said Tran, who won a Canadian junior crown with Jocelyn Peterman in 2012.

“With Kerry (Galusha), I played with them all that (2018-19) season and earned our spot together, so it felt like a normal season. It’s different being chosen to go versus playing and competing to go. But it’s exciting nonetheless and I’m just taking in all the moments I can and appreciate the opportunity.”

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Some of Alberta’s high-performance clubs were allowed to open this week and Tran threw rocks for the first time in months, getting the kinks out for her second Scotties as an import.

“It will be very different from what I experienced in Sydney, with the restrictions and not being able to have fans in the building and not being able to do the exciting things. But I’m really excited to just get on the ice and compete again,” said Tran, a program analyst for Emissions Reduction Alberta.

“Team Peterson has been great and I’m excited to get to know them even more.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell