THUNDER BAY – Krista McCarville should have home-ice advantage when the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling Tour Challenge lands at the Tournament Centre this week.
But how much that will help taking on 14 of the top women’s curling teams in the world in the Tier 1 side of the draw remains to be seen.
Unlike most of the other squads at the event, put on by Sportsnet, the McCarville foursome has only played in two events this season, winning the KW Fall Classic in Kitchener-Waterloo in September.
Add in the difficulty of rarely being able to practice as a full team, with third Kendra Lilly living full-time in her hometown of Sudbury, and the Thunder Bay rink will have its challenges when they open on Tuesday night against Edmonton’s Laura Walker rink.
Win or lose, McCarville said she’s pumped to play in front of the hometown crowd and have such a big event in Thunder Bay.
The foursome, which includes lead Sarah Potts and second Ashley Sippala – who will be leaving the team after the event on maternity leave, replaced by Sudbury’s Jen Gates – is thrilled to earn a berth in the championship draw.
“We were No. 20 so we didn’t think we were going to have the opportunity to be in the Tier 1. But with those five teams dropping out, allowing us to get a spot in Tier 1, is really exciting,” said McCarville, the runner-up at the 2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
“Really every single team out there wants to play in Tier 1. Things seem to be falling where we wanted to, so we’ll take whatever we can get.”
McCarville likes the team’s chances, in a field that includes the likes of three-time Scotties winner and world champion Rachel Homan, reigning world champion and 2014 Olympic gold medallist Jennifer Jones and Chelsea Carey, who edged out McCarville in the 2016 Scotties final.
“Our first bonspiel, we actually won that. We didn’t have any ice yet, going out really fresh. But we played really well and we gelled as a team, which is really important. The second one, not quite as well, but we still had quite a few games on the ice, and being together as a team on and off the ice is really important early in the year,” McCarville said.
“This will only be our third one coming up, but this weekend with Kendra and Jen in town practicing eight hours a day together, we’re just doing whatever we can to ramp up for this week.”
Lilly said there’s one key to doing well against such tough competition.
“I think we just need to be consistent, just make sure we’re all throwing the same, which we are right now. We just have to keep that up and just stay in the game,” Lilly said, adding she’ll get a huge life from the sold-out crowd cheering their every shot.
“I’m sure we’re going to have the crowd support for every game and it will just make it a lot of cheering and fun and we’ll have the crowd involved in every game.”
The Tier 2 competition will feature plenty of local content too, with skips Dylan Johnston, Colin Koivula on the men’s side and Hailey Beaudry and Jenna Enge in the field on the women’s side.
It’s a great opportunity, said Johnston, the runner-up in the 2017 Northern Ontario play-downs to Sioux Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs, who will be a favourite in the men’s Tier 1 event.
“It’s a big privilege to get an invite to go play and it could lead to bigger things in the future,” Johnston said.
Johnston opens Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. against Sudbury’s Jordan Chandler, while Koivula tips off on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. against the Netherlands’ Jaap Van Dorp. Enge plays Japan’s Sayaka Yoshimura at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Beaudry gets Woodstock, Ont.’s Julie Tippin in the early draw on Wednesday.
