THUNDER BAY – Krista McCarville is trying not to think too much about South Korea and representing Canada at next year’s Olympic Games.
Like all great skips, the 35-year-old Thunder Bay native and six-time provincial champion wants to focus on the here-and-now – which starting on Saturday is the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings, the Canadian Olympic women’s curling trials.
But McCarville and her team – lead Sarah Potts, second Ashley Sippala and third Kendra Lilly of Sudbury – won’t be alone in letting their minds slip a little with dreams of heading to PyeongChang for a shot at Olympic gold.
It will be a common thought amongst all nine teams in Ottawa over the nine-day event.
“The chance to go to the Olympics would be a dream come true, of course,” said McCarville. “We come out practicing and we always say, ‘This shot’s to go to the Olympics’ and we have a little bit of fun with the team that way.
While McCarville has been to the Olympic trials before, dropping the semifinal match 10-5 to Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink in 2009, for Potts, Sippala and Lilly the Roar of the Rings will be a brand new experience.
The team has played on Canada’s largest curling stage, finishing runner-up in the 2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, but the Olympic trials are another level altogether, something her father, two-time world champion Rick Lang, has been instilling in the team all season long.
“He’s talked a lot about how this is bigger than anything we’ve ever been to,” Potts said, “which is exciting for us, because we want to be on that stage. So we’re looking forward to it.”
McCarville, who will open Saturday against nine-time Saskatchewan champion Michelle Englot, is hoping to break a recent tradition of dropping their opening match, a fate that befell her team at this year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts and the pre-Olympic trials earlier this month in Summerside, P.E.I.
While it hasn’t hurt them yet – they managed a bronze-medal appearance at the Scotties and won the Road to the Roar pre-trials – in a field that includes the likes of Jennifer Jones, Val Sweeting, Chelsea Carey and Ontario rival Rachel Homan, every loss counts.
“I think the key is building confidence in our team,” McCarville said. “Typically at the beginning of the spiels we haven’t had as much confidence. Usually we lose our first one, which you don’t ever want to do.
“But slowly I feel we learn the ice a little bit better. We learn the speed, the rocks and we build confidence.”
Actually, Potts said, those early losses may have helped.
“We kind of joke that we’re actually best when our backs are up against the wall. It’s a little bit hard in the very first game, because it’s not a sudden-death game,” Potts said.
McCarville added they’re going to take a similar approach as they would at a national championship – though the field is slightly deeper.
“When you look at it, it’s very much like a Scotties,” she said. “You’re playing some great teams and definitely you want to get to the playoffs. If you get to the playoffs, then it’s re-evaluating from there. But it’s very similar, it just happens every four years.”
Team McCarville’s opening game against Englot is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Schedule:
- Team Englot, Dec. 2, 7 p.m.
- Team Scheidegger, Dec. 3, 2 p.m.
- Team Homan, Dec. 4, 9 a.m.
- Team Tippin, Dec. 5 7 p.m.
- Team Flaxey, Dec. 6 7 p.m.
- Team Jones, Dec. 7, 2 p.m.
- Team Carey, Dec. 8, 9 a.m.
- Team Sweeting, Dec 8, 2 p.m.
