Cameron stays alive

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This article was published 24/02/2024 (805 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CALGARY — Kate Cameron took a long, winding, and incredibly bumpy road to championship Sunday at women’s curling nationals.

The 2023-24 season started off with a nightmare as the 32-year-old skip from New Bothwell had a botched Lasik eye surgery that led to vision issues for several months.

She failed to win Manitoba provincials, in fact, she didn’t even reach the final. After having to settle for a wild-card spot for the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, her most experienced teammate, second Taylor McDonald, had to bow out because of her pregnancy, leading to the team calling up Kelsey Rocque to be a last-minute replacement for Calgary.

Then, with a .500 record heading into the final day of the round robin, Cameron had to win two games — one of them without third Meghan Walter who was back at the hotel not feeling well — to become the sixth and final playoff team.

She’s been down, and down again, but Cameron is far from out. Less than 24 hours after knocking out reigning four-time champion Kerri Einarson and Team Canada, Cameron sent another big name packing she took down crowd favourite Selena Sturmay of Alberta 6-4 in the Page 3 vs. 4 game Saturday afternoon to move on to Sunday’s semifinal.

“It’s crazy. If you would’ve asked me two weeks ago if we would’ve been in the semifinal, I think I would’ve been pretty shocked,” said Cameron’s lead Mackenzie Elias.

Cameron, who made her return to skipping this season after nearly a decade of playing third, will play the loser of Saturday’s 1 vs. 2 Page playoff between Ontario’s Rachel Homan and Manitoba legend Jennifer Jones for the right to play for the Canadian championship.

“I think what’s working is we’re leaning on each other and we’re supporting each other right now. Whether someone is struggling or not making a couple, I think we’re still trying to pull out the best in them,” said Cameron.

“We just feel like a tight knit unit, and I think that’s really why we’re being successful right now.”

Cameron earned bronze three years ago at this event — which also happened to be in Calgary — playing third for Alberta’s Laura Walker. In 2017, Cameron settled for silver with Manitoba’s Michelle Englot after losing gold to Homan.

Even though they now find themselves left with two of the biggest names in all of curling, Cameron thinks they have what it takes to stand on top of the podium at the end if they keep playing the way they are.

But if that doesn’t come to fruition, she’ll still view this as a major achievement.

“We put this team together knowing this was a building year. I’m happy that we’re moving forward right now, but I don’t think we ever expected to do that this year,” said Cameron.

“I think we’re looking big picture and looking to peak next year and then the year after into the trials. I think it’s great to be able to play well right now, but I think, really for us, this is a big learning opportunity and something we can take forward.”

Sturmay, a 25-year-old from Edmonton, was the breakout star of the week as this was her time time at women’s nationals. She finished first in Pool A with a 7-1 record and managed to beat some of the best teams in the country in Einarson, Kaitlyn Lawes, and Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville.

The WinSport Event Centre was close to full capacity on Saturday with fans eager to support the local squad.

Unfortunately for Team Alberta and their supporters, Sturmay just had too many misses to keep going.

She curled at 68 per cent. Cameron was much better at 91 per cent.

The first-year Manitoba-based foursome pulled ahead with three in the third, while the rest of the ends were blanks or singles.

Sturmay’s teammates combined to shoot at 89 per cent.

“We definitely came in wanting to play with no fear, but if we said we didn’t have nerves, we’d be lying. Those nerves stemmed from a good place, though. We cared about that game and wanted to win,” said Sturmay.

“Honestly, it sucks that I didn’t have a good game. I feel like it was probably the worst game all week. But that’s just curling.”

Although Sturmay fizzled out at the end, Alberta’s head coach isn’t discouraged.

“As you saw today, she’s just learning how to handle the pressure. You’ve got to get in these moments, you’ve got to fail a few times, and then you learn how to deal with it, and it makes you better,” said Ted Appelman.

“She just needs that experience. I said to the girls at the end there that they’re going to be playing in quite a few of these Scotties over the years, I think.”

Scotties all-stars announced

The 2024 Scotties all-stars were revealed Saturday afternoon. The nods are determined by a combination of media vote and playing percentages:

First Team

Skip — Rachel Homan, Ontario-Homan

Third — Tracy Fleury, Ontario-Homan

Second — Emma Miskew, Ontario-Homan

Lead — Krysten Karwacki, Canada

Second Team

Skip — Kerri Einarson, Canada

Third — Karlee Burgess, Manitoba-Jones

Second — Shannon Birchard, Canada

Lead — Sarah Wilkes, Ontario-Homan

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