No COVID trouble in the bubble

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This article was published 27/02/2021 (1921 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bubble life for Mackenzie Zacharias had its ups and downs.

Curling on a neighbouring sheet to the Scotties feature game of the preliminary round — Einarson vs. Homan — on Thursday afternoon was a high point. The inability to pick the brains of the two world-class skips at any point during the championship was a total downer.

Delivering a couple of the week’s highlight-reel shots, including a raise triple-takeout to score a deuce in the sixth end of an eventual 8-6 defeat Wednesday night to Homan, won’t be soon forgotten. Neither will a trio of COVID-19 tests, particularly the incomparable sensation of a deep nasal swab (taken on Day 5) that felt like it poked the back of her eye socket.

Posting three victories at her inaugural national women’s championship a clear sign the Zacharias team from Altona has graduated with honours from the junior ranks — will remain cherished memories. Brooding alone in her hotel room over a pair of one-point defeats, the difference between leaving Calgary early and staying for more, will not.

Just being among 18 of the country’s finest squads, including a handful of the world’s very best, was a blast. Leaving early bit hard.

The 21-year-old skip of good, old Wild Card 2 has ‘Been there, done that, passed a dozen temperature checks, bought the T-shirt.’

The roller-coaster ride of the 2021 Canadian women’s championship is over and the University of Manitoba student can turn her attention back to her studies. But Zacharias would do it all over again tomorrow if she could — armed with the knowledge the team’s health and safety is fully guaranteed.

“We thought Curling Canada really covered all their bases with their regulations and guidelines they had us follow, before we arrived and inside the bubble. I don’t think any of us thought there was much of a chance we’d catch COVID-19,” she said, from the Calgary airport Friday morning. 

Zacharias finished with a 3-5 record in Pool A, two victories short of qualifying for the championship round. Their wins came against Yukon’s Laura Eby, Jill Brothers of Nova Scotia and Krysta Burns of Northern Ontario.

“It was absolutely amazing, phenomenal. I know it wasn’t like any other Scotties that curlers have experienced before, but it was incredible to be out there and to soak it all up,” she added. “We didn’t have the week we wanted to have and we could have done a lot better, but we learned a lot and gave a couple of good teams some good games and take that into next season and we’re going to do everything we can to get back.”

Zacharias, her younger sister and second, Emily, third Karlee Burgess and lead Lauren Lenentine, along with coach and proud papa, Sheldon Zacharias, returned to Winnipeg on the first flight out and had to begin a 14-day quarantine — as part of the province’s travel guidelines — at their respective homes.

The Scotties is the first of four spectator-free events being staged this winter by the national curling federation in a controlled environment to avoid the spread of the COVID-19 virus. More than 100 female athletes, along with their coaches and Curling Canada officials, are the proverbial guinea pigs for the return of elite-level curling in the country. 

So far, so good. As of Friday at noon, 522 tests were conducted and all came back negative. As well, hundreds of temperature and wellness checks detected nothing distressing.

“The Scotties teams have shown how to do it. They all took it seriously, rolled with the punches and were accepting of what was put out front and willing to do what it took. They’ve definitely shown that it’s possible, and you just need that diligence,” Nolan Thiessen, Curling Canada’s director of broadcast, marketing, innovation and event presentation, told the Free Press.

“Everyone else who’s planning on entering the bubble here for the Brier and beyond, they can see that if they do what it takes, if they do what is laid out for them, then they can safely run a regular championship.” 

The Brier national men’s championship is slated for March 5-14, followed by the Canadian mixed doubles championship March 18-26, and the world men’s playdowns April 2-11.

“We haven’t created a jail. There are no high fences in this situation. But we have rules and protocols and steps that everyone has to stick to — and they did,” added Thiessen. “The guinea pigs, the first ones in, I know I apologized to the women a few times because they really had to work out the kinks for us. But they’ve done amazing.”

Members of the Zacharias contingent were tested in Winnipeg prior to departure Feb. 17 and then presented unanimous negative results to officials when they arrived at their hotel. The team was also tested Feb. 18 on the eve of the event and two additional times during the competition.

Admittedly, her last test mid-week was excruciating.

“I’ve never experienced a worse feeling. That was rough, way back there. It was awful,” the 2020 world junior champion said, laughing.

The players’ hotel is just across the Trans-Canada Highway from Markin MacPhail Centre at Canada Olympic Park, and the team used its own rental car to shuttle back and forth. Curlers couldn’t stray from the short route home. Big Brother was watching.

“It was really orderly, they had a pretty good routine set for us. We got our temperature checked twice a day and put it into this app and we had to present a check mark that we had passed it whenever we would leave the hotel to go to the arena and when we got there as well,” said Mackenzie. “We also had these passes to scan in and out of the hotel and in and out of the arena.

“Not being able to see all the players, not being able to talk to them, wasn’t fun for us. We’ve heard the social aspect of the Scotties is usually a big deal, so it was too bad we couldn’t enjoy that,” she added. “Jennifer Jones told Karlee, ‘We want to sit and have a drink with you guys, but we can’t.’ That would have been amazing.”

An illness suffered last weekend by Northwest Territories third Jo-Ann Rizzo, quickly blamed on food poisoning, provided the only fleeting health scare during eight days inside the bubble.

Sheldon said he really had no concerns, either from a parental or coaching perspective, before and during the competition.

“Curling Canada did a great job of keeping us informed all the way through, as far as the rules and regulations. Alberta Health did a bunch of work, too, so we felt comfortable we were being taken care of,” he said. “I’d be lying if I said (the strict routine) didn’t get a bit tedious, but it’s the world we live in and everybody’s safety is so important.

“It adds a little stress to the athletes and the organizers because everybody’s working that much harder. But it’s worth it in the end to put on that great of an event, and the opportunity to curl in it was huge for our team.”

The women’s championship wraps up Sunday night, and men’s teams start to filter in 72 hours later.

Former Winnipegger Matt Dunstone, now living in Kamloops, B.C., is preparing to skip Team Saskatchewan at a second consecutive Brier. The two-time Canadian junior champion got the inside scoop on bubble life from his partner, Erin Pincott, third for Corryn Brown of British Columbia.

“Curling Canada’s done a good job of laying it out for us. More or less, Erin just confirmed everything and gave us a few little details of where in the arena things are, where we can go and where we can’t, the testing and all that,” he said.

“It doesn’t sound super fantastic but we know what we signed up for. Beggars can’t be choosers. At this point, we’re just fortunate to be doing this. If it means getting tested five times a day and locked in a hotel room, I’ll be nothing but grateful.”

Pincott and the rest of the Brown squad closed out with a victory over Suzanne Birt of Prince Edward Island on Thursday night to finish 4-4, a win short of advancing on.

The 25-year-old curler admitted elements of this year’s version of the championship, on and off the ice, were in stark contrast to her debut at the 2020 Scotties in Moose Jaw, Sask.

“Just missing that connection with people, whether it was the empty building or not seeing the other teams much and, at times, your teammates. As curlers, we’re social so that was a big part of it that was quite different. That piece of it was challenging, and no family and friends there supporting us,” said Pincott, homeward bound Friday morning and speaking from a vehicle on the Trans-Canada west of Canmore, Alta. “But kudos to Curling Canada for getting the event going. We appreciate everything they did to keep us safe. 

“We were joking the whole week it was a good idea to start with the women,” she added, giggling. “I think we’re a little bit better at following rules, more compliant.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell