Roster change for curling team

The Krista McCarville foursome is getting a facelift.

Long-time third Tara George has decided to take the winter off from full-time curling to spend more time with her family, McCarville confirmed on Thursday.

This means new roles for second Ashley Miharija and fifth Sarah Lang, who practiced with the Ontario champions in 2009-10, playing sparingly in competition. Miharija will take over George’s spot, though where that leaves Lang and lead Kari MacLean isn’t crystal clear at this point, McCarville said.

"Front end we’re not really sure, but we always have to have a Lang on our team and so we’re excited about that," she said, taking time out from Nor’wester View School’s first annual sports day, which saw athletes teach youngsters how to compete in a variety of different sports.

Team McCarville has long been coached by former world champion Rick Lang, whose wife Lorraine played lead for the squad in three of its four trips to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Though she’s giving up her full-time status for at least the next year, George will still have a role to play, McCarville said.

"Tara’s gonna play fifth this year, just so she has a little bit of time with her family for a year. And then hopefully she’ll come back on and we’ll go strong for the next three years after that for the 2014 Olympics," McCarville said.
It will take a little adjustment, she added, but only at first.

Tara’s (always) been a part of the team. I’ve actually curled with her pretty much all my competitive life, and it’s going to be difficult at first, but I know Ashley’s a great player and she’ll be able to fill Tara’s shoes well," McCarville said.

"Tara’s obviously still going to be a part of our curling team. She’s still going to be there for practices and games and fill in wherever she can with our team. It’ll be a good change for our team this year and hopefully bring a little different fire to our team having a new player on our team."

The veteran curler, who finished third at the Olympic trials in Edmonton in December, said she believes Lang, 20, is ready for the challenge that lies ahead.

"She’s a great player and she’s got a really good mind for the curling game. I’m confident with her playing on the team and moving up. I think she is ready as well, even though she’s still young. She’s got a great mind for curling."

And with that pedigree, it’s probably next to impossible not to have at least a little insight on the game.