THUNDER BAY – The downside of this week’s Northern Ontario Scotties provincial qualifier is the field is comprised of just three teams, down one from a year ago.
In contrast, 12 teams will contest this week’s Ontario women’s curling championship.
The upside in Northern Ontario is that two of the team’s taking part in the Sudbury event are skipped by Krista McCarville and hometown favourite Tracy Fleury.
Combined they have eight Scotties Tournament of Hearts appearances, five Ontario titles and all three Northern Ontario crowns.
McCarville, a six-time provincial champion who curls out of the Fort William Curling Club, had a silver-medal finish in 2016 and a fourth-place result last year.
Fleury finished 6-5 at nationals in 2015, her last trip to the Scotties.
It’s not ideal, McCarville acknowledged. But she still supports a Northern Ontario entry at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
“It looks bad, the fact that Northern Ontario doesn’t have too many teams. There were two teams, us and Fleury, until right before the deadline, when we heard the other team was joining the play-downs,” McCarville said.
“It is sad, because we want curling to bloom in Northern Ontario and just help our clubs out.”
As a teacher, the 35-year-old is trying to encourage her students to take up the game, hoping to build the sport, at least in Thunder Bay.
“We have a pretty good crowd this year coming to the Fort William Curling Club, so I hope that it’ll keep rolling on from there.”
Sarah Potts, who throws lead stones for McCarville, said the biggest saving grace of the small field is how well Northern Ontario women seem to fare on the national stage.
Both Fleury and McCarville were at last year’s Olympic pre-trials, McCarville making it through to the Roar of the Rings in Ottawa, where she contended for a playoffs spot for most of the week.
“We do well at nationals, so I think people know that Northern Ontario produces strong teams. Just because the number of teams isn’t there, I think people know we still give it a good run.”
Sudbury’s Piper Croisier’s foursome rounds out the three-team field. Another possible contender, the Hailey Beaudry rink, will instead compete this weekend for the Canadian junior curling championship.
With Croisier being a relative unknown, most experts believe the Northern Ontario Scotties will come down to a showdown between McCarville and Fleury, who will tangle twice during the round robin and likely meet up in Saturday’s final.
“We know that they’re going to be some hard-fought battles and we know we’re going to have play our best. (Fleury) is a great team. They’re on the World Curling Tour all the time,” said McCarville, whose team also includes second Ashley Sippala and third Kendra Lilly, a Sudbury native, adding they only took a couple of days off after the Olympic trials before starting to prepare for provincials.
“You have to have a good weekend, you have to get a hold of the ice and that one game you really need to play your best.”
The key is not developing bad habits.
“You want to have the confidence going into that final game. And I think if all four of us are really confident it’s really a better feeling going into the final.”
McCarville opens her title defence on Thursday night against Fleury, a change from the original draw which had to be scrapped because of travel issues.
