Team Fleury prepares for wild ride

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/12/2021 (1614 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tracy Fleury will go head to head with a mystery opponent — more than five weeks from now — just to get into the 2022 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

It might well be a one-night-only engagement.

So, how will the Sudbury, Ont., skip and her East St. Paul team start to lay the groundwork for success between now and the eve of the national women’s curling championship in Thunder Bay?

A restful holiday season sounds like a good place to start.

“Just some time at home will be good for us,” Fleury said Tuesday. “A bit of a break, some time with family, just to relax and recharge. It’ll be good for us. We’ll start practising early in the new year. We have a Grand Slam event to go to out in Alberta (Meridian Open) starting Jan. 11 in Camrose (Alta.), so that will us a good tuneup to get us back into that competitive mindset to get ready for the wild-card game.”

The last month has, indeed, been a whirlwind for the Fleury foursome, which includes three Manitobans — Selena Njegovan at third, Liz Fyfe at second and lead Kristin MacCuish. The World Curling Federation’s No.1-ranked team has had relatively few highs and some stinging lows lately.

The hottest team in the country heading into the Canadian Olympic Trials went 8-0 before losing the final to Jennifer Jones on the last stone of an extra end Nov. 28 in Saskatoon and will watch from afar as the St. Vital team represents the Maple Leaf for the second time on sport’s grandest stage, this time in Beijing.

Just days ago, Fleury’s crew missed the playoffs at the provincial Scotties in Carberry, necessitating the need to compete in the wild-card game.

“We definitely didn’t feel like we were way off. There were some shots here and there we wanted back,” she said. “I think we were all feeling emotionally drained from our Trials experience. All that being said, the teams we did lose to played excellent against us and deserved to win.”

Fleury is positioned at the top of the Canadian Team Ranking System and is guaranteed a spot in the sudden-life contest.

The crucial ‘play-in’ is scheduled for Jan. 28 at Fort William Gardens, the night before the 16-team national championship officially begins.

They’ll pack to be gone 10 days knowing in the back of their minds they could go home the next day.

“From logistics and organizing, it’s definitely challenging but you have to practise and prepare and pack like you’ll be there the whole time,” said Fleury.

Two years ago, the identical lineup dropped in and out of Moose Jaw, Sask., in a matter of days, losing the wild-card showdown to Jones. Two years before that, Njegovan, Fyfe and MacCuish slipped into the Scotties in Penticton, B.C., by way of the wild-card contest with Kerri Einarson at the helm.

“It’s not an ideal situation but at the same time it’s nice to have that second chance,” Fleury said.

Mackenzie Zacharias of Altona (with third Karlee Burgess, second Emily Zacharias and lead Lauren Lenentine) captured her first Manitoba women’s title over the weekend and joins Einarson (with third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Brianne Meilleur), the two-time defending Canadian champion and No.3-ranked CTRS team, in Thunder Bay.

Fleury is hoping for a late invitation, however, her opponent won’t be known until after Scotties playdowns are done across the country.

Jones, the CTRS’s second-ranked squad, is preparing for the Olympics and didn’t compete in Carberry.

Rachel Homan’s Ottawa team, ranked fourth on the CTRS, nearly pencilled itself into the wild-card game, losing its opening test at the last-chance Ontario Scotties qualifier last weekend before rattling off four consecutive triumphs.

The good money’s on Fleury challenging either Homan or Hollie Duncan of Markham, Ont., ranked No. 5, for the final Scotties berth.

+++

Canada’s mixed-doubles Olympic curling trials is still a go for Portage la Prairie after Christmas, Curling Canada confirmed Tuesday.

But fewer fans will be allowed into Stride Place, and athletes, federation staff and officials will be in a bubble format for the event, set for Dec. 28-Jan. 2. Attendance at the arena will be capped at 50 per cent.

The event features 16 two-player teams, and the athletes will be subject to regular testing throughout the event, and restricted to their their hotel rooms, the arena and the vehicles they will use to get back and forth.

The winning duo will represent Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Winnipeg’s Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris of Canmore, Alta., captured gold at the 2018 Winter Games.

+++

Braeden Moskowy is rejoining Matt Dunstone’s Saskatchewan men’s team for the rest of the 2021-22 season.

Dunstone’s regular third did not curl with the squad at the Canadian Olympic Trials in late November in Saskatoon, citing “personal reasons”, but will return in the new year. Colton Lott of the Winnipeg Beach area took his place just days before the start of the Trials and played well, although the team posted five consecutive defeats before winning its final three games to finish out of the playoffs.

Dunstone, a former Winnipegger, makes his home in B.C., but guides the Regina-based team and will compete at home in the SaskTel Tankard provincial men’s championship, Feb. 9-13.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @WFPJasonBell