George comes home

It’s where the heart is, there’s no place like it and they say you can never go back, but nonetheless, Tara George is heading home.

In between family visits and catching up with old friends, the 36-year-old curler has a mission in mind, winning the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. It’s the fifth time in five years George has been to the Canadian women’s curling championship, four times with skip Krista McCarville and once as a fifth for Sherry Middaugh in 2008.

George, whose father, Tom, helped secure the Sault Ste. Marie Scotties bid, is thrilled to get to play in familiar surroundings.

"It’s going to be really exciting. I’ve already had some calls from some people saying they can’t wait until you get here and there’s been a lot of town support and displays put up around our team. I think it will be great and I think we’ll feed off of it," George said Tuesday, before being piped into the lounge at Fort William Curling Club alongside McCarville, lead Kari MacLean, second Ashley Miharija and spare Sarah Lang, during a send-off ceremony for the reigning provincial champions.

She’s beyond the butterfly stage in her career, having played on a number of big stages, so she doesn’t expect the location of the national women’s curling championship will make her any more nervous than usual.

"I think having gone to the (Olympic) trials, we gained some fans by the end of the week and I think that helped us. So I think it will help us a lot," said George, though she admits she’s never played a major event there during her stellar career.

The foursome certainly can’t enter the Scotties on any higher note. The Thunder Bay rink swept through the Ontario Scotties with a perfect 11-0 record, their best effort yet. They also finished third at the Olympic trials, gaining plenty of respect while they were at it.

McCarville said she hopes it’s a sign of things to come, though they’ll be in tough up against the likes of Kelly Scott, Amber Holland and defending champion Jennifer Jones, who she beat in Edmonton at the Olympic qualifier.

"Every team that makes it there is a great team, so really we have to play our best no matter what. I think our team has more confidence than we had other years. The way we’ve been playing this year, we’ve definitely picked up our level of play this year and I’m really happy and I’m confident in our team that we’ll make it."

For her part, McCarville, 27, isn’t too worried about the venue, the Essar Centre, where the ice will be different than most of the bonspiels they play and certainly a change from her home club.

"Arena ice is tricky compared to club ice, but because we’ve had a little bit of practice here, I’m hoping to pick up on the ice and learn that ice really well, and hopefully that will do us good," McCarville said.

Team McCarville opens play on Saturday at 3 p.m. against New Brunswick. They follow against Alberta and Quebec on Sunday.