THUNDER BAY -- A year ago, Krista McCarville caught the curling world by surprise.
Well, at least as much as a four-time provincial champion can catch anyone off guard.
Coming off a lengthy layoff, the Thunder Bay skip and teammates Ashley Sippala, Sarah Potts and Sudbury’s Kendra Lilly stormed through the Northern Ontario provincial play-downs and found themselves in the championship game at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
They’d settle for runner-up status and know they won’t be surprising anyone this time around.
McCarville and company last month made the semifinals of the Boost National Grand Slam of Curling in Sault Ste. Marie, and while they haven’t won a bonspiel so far this season, are on a roll nonetheless, she said this past weekend after a fourth-place finish in the Major League of Curling playoffs.
Still, the pressure’s on, she said.
“I feel really good,” the 34-year-old McCarville said, set to start another Northern Ontario play-down run on Wednesday in Nipigon. “We have been playing good, but I do feel more nervous because the Scotties is still fresh in my brain and we want to be back there so badly because we know we can compete with those teams.
“So I think a little more nerves than usual, but nerves aren’t a bad thing.”
A return trip to the national championship likely means McCarville will have to knock off Sudbury’s Tracy Fleury, who was the inaugural Northern Ontario Scotties champion, winning the crown in 2015, a feat the Thunder Bay foursome accomplished three times at last year’s provincial play-downs.
Others in the four-team field are Thunder Bay rinks skipped by Hailey Beaudry and Larissa Mikkelson, though neither is considered a strong contender for the crown.
Team Fleury, which includes lead Amanda Gates, second Jenna Walsh and third Jennifer Wylie, will be out for redemption, Potts said.
“We know that they’re obviously a really experienced team, a really talented team. We know we have to play our best. We can’t go out there and have an average game. We have to be on top of things and ready to go all the time and hopefully outplay them,” Potts said.
“It’s really going to come down to who shows up best that weekend. They’re going to want to beat us and they know we want to beat them. And even with the other teams, it’s a healthy competitiveness.”
McCarville said despite their relative ease at the Northern Ontario’s a year ago, her Fort William Curling Club squad isn’t taking anything for granted in 2017.
“We just have to take it one shot at a time. I know that sounds cliché and everyone says that, but that’s really what it is. You can’t think about the end result. That’s what we have to do.”
McCarville begins her title defence on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. against Mikkelson at the Nipigon Curling Club and Event Centre.
