SCOTTIES: Calvert ready to represent Carberry

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This article was published 15/12/2021 (1390 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Alyssa Calvert couldn’t help but feel emotional as her Carberry Curling Club team stepped out onto the ice at Carberry Plains Community Centre Tuesday afternoon for their practice session at the 2022 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

“I think I had a little bit of tears walking in today,” Calvert said. 

“My husband (Trevor) has been here at the rink for the last five days and telling me how wonderful the rink looks and how everyone did such a phenomenal job.”

Calvert is involved with the host committee for the event but her role officially changed to competitor two weeks ago when her rink — which includes third Stacey Fordyce, second Pam Robins, lead Roz Taylor and alternate Tanya Enns — earned their spot in the 12-team event.

“With COVID-19, we weren’t sure what exactly was going to happen, but I don’t think you could have asked for a better committee than the one we have here,” Calvert said. 

“They’ve gone above and beyond with everything, even over the last few days as they’ve been putting out fires with those little things that you don’t know you need to fix until the event comes. I feel so fortunate to live here and I can’t wait to see everyone in the stands.”

Calvert will have a slightly different lineup for her opening game against Beth Peterson at 12:15 p.m. today.

Enns is stepping up into the lead role for Taylor, who will miss out on the contest due to work commitments.

“It’s a little bit of a juggling act with all that fun life stuff, but it will all work out and we were fortunate to have Tanya be able to step in and help us out,” said Calvert, who will also be in action at 8 o’clock against Kristy McDonald.

The Calvert rink was originally slated to face Shae Bevan’s team from the St. Vital Curling Club two weeks ago in Portage la Prairie for a spot at the provincials.

However, that game never took place as both rinks earned their spot after Jennifer Jones won the Olympic Curling Trials in Saskatoon and elected not to compete in the Manitoba Scotties.

Since they found out they would compete in Carberry, the Calvert quartet has tried to keep things as normal as possible as they get ready for the provincial playdowns.

“It was a little busy last week as we ended up having two Super League games in Brandon (their matchup with Cale Dunbar was moved up a week due to their trip to the Scotties) but I think that was really good for us, especially leading into our practice Tuesday,” Calvert said.

“When you get to an event like the Scotties, it’s important to get a feeling of the building, getting the ice under your slider and just taking it all in. There’s always going to be more curl out there and the ice will be slower than it is for the rest of the week, so you have to keep that in mind when you are practising.”

On Thursday, Calvert faces Mackenzie Zacharias at 12:15 p.m., then the Neepawa Curling Club’s Terry Ursel at 7:45 p.m. 

Calvert’s last game in pool play is against Darcy Robertson on Friday at 1 p.m.

“There’s a strong field here and I think whoever gets comfortable with the ice and finds the draw weight early is going to be in good shape, as those two things are usually the key here at the Scotties,” Calvert said.

“I think Tracy (Fleury) is the favourite and rightly so, but you have people who have played a lot this year and people with whole new teams. Anything can happen once you get out there.”

The Manitoba Scotties officially gets underway at 8:30 a.m. today, with the opening ceremonies slated for 6:45 p.m.

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