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McCarville opens with Scotties win over Carey

Steal of three in the fourth blows open a 2-0 game as Team Northern Ontario gets into the win column early on home ice.

THUNDER BAY – Krista McCarville and Team Ontario heard a smattering of applause on Friday night, Fort William Gardens all but empty to open the 2022 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

It mattered not.

While the roar of the crowd in non-pandemic times might have spurred them on, it was their play that spoke volumes. McCarville opened a 5-0 lead with a steal of three in the fourth and cruised to a 7-3 win over rival Chelsea Carey, the skip of the second of three wild-card teams who six years ago knocked off the Thunder Bay rink in the championship final.

“That feels amazing, of course,” said McCarville, who out-curled Carey 82 per cent to 74 per cent.

“Going in playing against a really great team like them, and obviously playing against Chelsea Carey we’re going to want to get up because of the 2016 loss. And then playing our first game, we wanted to go out there and win our first Scotties game. So it definitely feels pretty good to get that Scotties win.”

McCarville third Kendra Lilly, who lives in Sudbury and practices away from the team for most of the season, said even after Carey's final shot in the fourth stayed a tad too wide, resulting in the steal of three for the home side, she and her teammates weren't taking anything for granted. 

Both teams are just feeling their way around new ice and big ends are out there to be had. 

"I think if anything when we get up we get a little bit more nervous because there are so many ends left in the game. It was huge and it obviously helped us a lot, but we by no means thought that the game was in the bag at that point. I think if anything we wanted to bear down even more to make sure we didn't lose that lead," Lilly said. 

"And it being the first game too," McCarville added, "you're just starting to learn the ice and starting to learn what the speed is, so it's easy to make a mistake because it's your first time out there. It's nice to get that lead, but we feel a little more tense and we want to win really badly. It always helps to get a nice lead." 

After blanking the first, Carey forced McCarville to settle for one, the hometown skip's first rock flashing on a takeout try and sailing through the house. Carey returned the favour in the third, missing on a hit-and-roll opportunity to blank, and the Thunder Bay team, which also includes lead Sarah Potts and second Ashley Sippala, doubled their lead. 

Their Saskatchewan-based opponent, which includes lead Jennifer Armstrong, second Stephanie Schmidt and third Jolene Campbell, got two back before the break, McCarville throwing a freeze that eliminated Carey's shot at a triple of her own. The Team Northern Ontario skip drew to the button for one in the sixth and the teams traded points in the eighth and ninth, shaking hands at that point. 

Next up for McCarville is P.E.I.'s Suzanne Birt foursome on Saturday night. Birt made easy work of Nunavut's Brigitte MacPhail, downing their northern opponent 12-2 in opening draw play. In other action on Friday night, New Brunswick's Andrea Campbell scored one in the ninth to edge Tracy Fleury's wild-card team 6-5 - Fleury sitting out because of a positiive COVID-19 test. She hopes to be back in the hack on Saturday. 

Wild-card skip Emma Miskew, subbing for Olympian Rachel Homan, doubled up Newfoundland and Labrador's Sarah Hill 10-5.

"We're definitely going to have to be playing really well out there together and click pretty fast," said Miskew, who joked she's only ever played one game without Homan since she was 11. 

"We're just trying to make it easy curling shots out there and enjoy the week and stick together and we'll see what happens." 

The top three teams in each nine-team pool advance to the championship round. 

 



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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