SCOTTIES: Robertson turns back clock

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This article was published 17/12/2021 (1569 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CARBERRY – Many of the curlers at this year’s Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts weren’t even alive when Darcy Robertson captured her first women’s provincial championship in 1986.

As the 56-year-old goes to battle against several young talents this week in Carberry, the former Canadian junior champion can’t help but be excited about the direction the sport is going in.

“I’ve been doing this for a while now and it’s always great to see so many new teams and faces coming into the game,” Robertson said. “I love to see the sport growing, especially with the young players.

“With everything that’s happened in the past year because of COVID, I think we’re all a little more appreciative about being here.”

Robertson, who also represented Manitoba at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in 2003 and 2009, once again finds herself in the mix for a title as preliminary pool play draws near a close at the Carberry Plains Community Centre.

Following a 7-5 win over Neepawa’s Terry Ursel (0-3) and a 8-6 triumph over clubmate Beth Peterson (2-2), Robertson’s rink from the Assiniboine Memorial in Winnipeg was 4-0 and in first place in the Asham Express Red Group.

“Our team is just plugging away here,” Robertson said. “We’ve been up in games and the other teams have come back to make things close and we’ve been down in games and been able to come back.

“We’re just going about our business and trying to play every end the best that we can. We’re keeping everything in focus and not letting anything rattle us, which is probably our biggest strength.”

Robertson’s current lineup, which features third Laura Burtnyk, second Gaetanne Gauthier and lead Krysten Karwacki, came together in 2019.

They finished just outside of the championship round picture at the 2020 Manitoba Scotties in Rivers and were a win away from qualifying for the playoffs at the Olympic Pre-Trials earlier this year in Liverpool, N.S.

“Having that year under our belts before the pandemic was good for us as we got to know each other and build on our strengths,” Robertson said. “Even though we had that break last season, I don’t think it hurt as much as we thought it would as we already had our chemistry down pat.

“This has been a totally different year than normal and we might not have had as many throws in as we would have in years past, but I think everyone is in the same boat. It’s such a well-matched field and anyone can win.”

Kristy McDonald has a 3-1 record and is in second place in the group going into today’s action. 

Her Granite squad handed Peterson their first loss of the week on Thursday afternoon in a wild 10-8 affair, as she made a picture-perfect freeze to the button on her last shot without hammer in the final frame to pick up a steal of one.

“It was do or die at that point,” McDonald said. “I wanted to finish the game out strong and try to make a five out of five shot for once in the game and we pulled it off.”

She followed that up with a 9-3 triumph over Altona’s Mackenzie Zacharias (2-2) in the evening draw.

That game last just five ends as McDonald opened things up with a four-ender and followed that up by scoring five points in the fourth frame.

Zacharias kept pace with the leaders earlier in the day with a 6-5 win over Carberry’s Alyssa Calvert (0-4).

Ursel earned her first win of the tournament in the evening draw by edging out Calvert in an 8-7 affair. 

Zacharias was going up against McDonald on Thursday night, while Calvert and Ursel squared off in a battle of winless rinks.

Meanwhile, Kristy Watling’s rink from the Assiniboine Memorial improved to 4-0 in the Asham Black Group with a come-from-behind 7-5 win over clubmate Kaitlyn Jones (3-1).

After falling behind 3-0 after two ends to the previously undefeated Jones squad, Watling slowly clawed her way back. She moved out in front for good with a steal of one in the ninth and swiped away two more points in the 10th.

“We were a little bit shaky early on but if we were going to fall behind, it might as well happen in the first couple of ends,” said Watling, who won a 10-5 contest over Jennifer Clark-Rouire of Miami earlier in the day.

“We just stayed patient as we knew that we would get opportunities. We just needed to take advantage of those chances and we did.”

Tracy Fleury’s quartet from the East St. Paul Curling Club had a strong two-win day as they improved to 3-1 with 10-2 and 8-4 victories over Meghan Walter and Clark-Rouire.

“We feel like we’re finding our groove here after taking part in the (Olympic) Trials,” Fleury said.

“We got a handle on the ice here right away and we’ve been able to get a better read on it during each of our games. That’s helped us out a lot.”

Shae Bevan’s St. Vital rink earned their first win of the week Thursday afternoon.

After dropping a 9-0 decision to Jones earlier in the day, Bevan (1-3) picked up three points in the final end against Walter (1-3) to pick up a 6-5 triumph and knock her out of the championship-round discussion.

The final two draws in pool play take place today at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. The top three teams in each group advance to the championship round, which gets underway at 6:30 p.m.

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