McCarville edged out again

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This article was published 27/02/2023 (1133 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

KAMLOOPS, B.C. — It’s a feeling Krista McCarville knows all too well.

A deep run at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, ending in nothing more than heartbreak on championship Sunday.

At last year’s Canadian women’s curling championship at home in Thunder Bay, McCarville and her Northern Ontario teammates made it all the way to the final before losing to Team Canada’s Kerri Einarson of Gimli.

This year, it was a similar story, as McCarville, third Kendra Lilly, second Ashley Sippala, and lead Sarah Potts fell victim to the Einarson juggernaut once again, only this time it was a 7-5 loss in the semifinal. The victory kept Einarson alive and sent her to last night’s title match — which concluded after press deadline — against Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones

“Once again, close, but not quite there,” said McCarville, 40, who was making her 10th Scotties appearance. McCarville also finished second in 2016 and third in 2010.

“I’m proud of the team for battling and working this hard and getting to final day again at the Scotties, but of course, it’s very disappointing. You always want to be in that final. One day we’re gonna win, we just don’t know when.”

McCarville, a teacher in the Thunder Bay Catholic School District, isn’t your typical high-level curling skip of a busy team. With work and family commitments, they only played three events — and only one grand slam — prior to stepping on the ice for their provincial playdowns.

Despite playing nowhere near as many games this year as most of the 18-team field in Kamloops, McCarville went 7-1 in round-robin action to claim the top spot in Pool B.

“I just wish more people would appreciate and marvel at them for doing that, as opposed to saying ‘What’s wrong with them?’” said Northern Ontario coach Rick Lang, a three-time Brier winner and two-time world champion.

“They’ve made life decisions. It’s not like they can walk away from their careers at this point with the investment they have in their jobs and their families and everything and say ‘We’re gonna go on tour.’ It’s just not to be done.”

“I appreciate when people appreciate what we can do because I marvel at it sometimes myself.”

McCarville led 2-0 after two ends before Einarson broke through with three in the third. McCarville wasn’t able to grab more than a single in any frame, shooting 79 per cent on the afternoon. Einarson was far from her best at 71 per cent, but Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Briane Harris made up for it by combining to shoot 88 per cent. McCarville didn’t get as much help, especially from third Kendra Lilly who struggled at 69 per cent.

“You know what, we can knock off a Kerri, a Jen, and a (Rachel) Homan in the round robin lots. Our record against top 10 teams in Canada, like our pool, we had six in the top 15 and we beat them all except one (a 7-5 loss to Homan),” said Lang, whose daughter is Potts.

“We were 5-1 against them, so that is there, but doing it in the playoffs is another one. We’ve come close, but we’ve never had a great, great game in the playoffs. That’s something we’ll look at again and try to figure it out.”

“… So, we have our challenges, but we play this game for fun and we had fun this week. It’s not do or die with us. We’ll be devastated for 48 hours then life goes on because we all have jobs and kids to go home to which is great.”

McCarville lost 8-5 in the Page 1-versus-2 playoff game to Jones on Saturday.

Northern Ontario started sending a representative to the Scotties in 2015 — the same year McCarville, Lilly, Sippala, Potts joined forces — and has yet to win it all.

“We just have to keep going. I feel every year we’re sometimes getting closer. We tried some new things this year as a team, and I do see some some changes and progress in that,” said Sippala.

“We just need to keep building on that and trekking along. We’re close and I think we’re gonna get there.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31