Westman curlers appreciate support at Scotties

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This article was published 01/02/2020 (2223 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RIVERS — Although neither of the Westman teams at the Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts will feature in the championship round of the tournament, they’ve enjoyed the hometown support at the Riverdale Community Centre.

Janelle Vachon out of the Brandon Curling Club finished 1-4 following her win over Arden’s Terry Ursel in the battle of the Westman rinks in their final round-robin game at the women’s provincial curling championship on Friday.

“We came into this with the mindset of we’re just here to have fun and have some good games and we’ve had a few,” Vachon said following her 6-3 loss to Kerri Einarson in the mid-day draw. “We’re having a great time, the fans, the local supporters have been awesome win or lose, they’ve been cheering for us.”

Whenever master of ceremonies Resby Coutts announces Team Vachon, the crowd gives them a substantial cheer.

“Every time we walk out they say ‘Team Vachon’ it gets so loud in here, it’s a really good feeling,” said second Megan Huculak from Sandy Lake, who’s curling at her first-ever Scotties.

The crowd has been filled with local friends and family of Team Vachon’s.

“I think half of the elderly community of Sandy Lake was here, there was so many people,” Huculak said with a laugh.

The results may not have been what Team Vachon wanted, but they have been boosted by the local fans.

“I think atmosphere does help, it’s just good to be here,” Huculak said.

Team Vachon curled against the likes of Einarson and Jennifer Jones, two big names in the world of curling, but Huculak didn’t let their starpower get to her.

“Everybody’s like ‘Oh my god it’s Jennifer Jones, you’re playing Jennifer Jones’ and I say ‘Yeah, but it’s just another game.’ The names don’t scare me, you just go out and play your best,” she said.

Playing against Jones and Einarson allowed the team to pick up on subtleties in their game, such as shot selection and “pretty much everything,” Vachon chuckled.

“The consistency from lead to skip, they all throw identical, the importance of that,” she added.

Huculak couldn’t pinpoint one thing she’s learned about the team during this year’s Scotties, but said because it is the first time they all curled together, the whole season was a learning experience.

“Right now because it is our first year together, our goal was to make it to the Scotties, we didn’t really set any expectations when we got here and it was just to have fun since it was our first one,” Huculak said. “The whole year has been a learning curve for all of us.”

For Ursel, their walkout song was Trooper’s “Here For a Good Time” and she said they’ve done just that at the Scotties.

“We have, except well, today,” she said with a laugh following her 9-2 loss to Darcy Robertson on Friday.

Curling on arena ice has been a bit of an adjustment, particularly the release of rocks.

“If you don’t give it a nice crisp release your rocks will go sideways,” she said. “Consistency as well, on rink ice you sometimes get away with a lot of things but on arena ice you can’t.”

Like Team Vachon, Team Ursel has enjoyed a lot of local fans in the crowd in Rivers.

“Which has been great, except we feel bad when they come here and watch us get our butts kicked,” Ursel chuckled. “But hey it happens. Lots of people do, just not us.”

Ursel’s second, Kayla Hunter was curling in just her second Scotties and liked seeing familiar faces in the crowd. Knowing this year’s provincials was going to be in Rivers was added motivation for Hunter, who is from the Neepawa-Arden area.

“It’s been so awesome to see all of our friends and family in the crowd, so many smiling faces and texts and calls,” Hunter said. “It’s been awesome having it here in Rivers.”

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A name that has garnered some attention at these Scotties has been Hailey Ryan, who has been skipping Abby Ackland’s rink out of Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club in Winnipeg.

Ryan, who is normally the third on Ackland’s team, has been skipping because Ackland is due to give birth in a couple weeks. Ryan has been a third her whole career so to take over as skip on a stage as big as the Scotties is “a little bit intimidating,” Ryan said.

“I have a good idea of strategy but I’ve never had to call a game from start to finish obviously,” she said following her 11-3 loss to Jones. “It’s a lot different being at the other end by yourself and deciding what’s best, as opposed to at the other end with the other girls talking about what’s best. That’s been the biggest adjustment.”

Ryan and Team Ackland were undefeated prior to their loss to Jones and it was a key fifth end that quickly snuffed out the chances of Ackland’s second upset of the tournament. Ackland beat Einarson 6-5 on the opening day.

Jones hit back-to-back doubles and then tossed a rock with plenty of weight to knock out Ackland’s stone without touching any of her own to score six. It was a masterclass from the Olympic gold medalist and eight time provincial champion.

“I made a bad call in the fifth end to give her a double for six and she made it and they played great,” Ryan said. “Kaitlyn (Lawes) made a couple great shots that end.”

Ryan said she has been watching Jones curl for a long time.

“It’s cool playing against her, definitely picking up on things as we go,” Ryan said.

Robertson beat Ackland 9-5 in the final draw of the day as both finished 3-2 and out of the championship group. Einarson edged Jones 7-6 in an extra end as both reached today’s final four at 4-1.

•••

In the morning draw on Friday, Beth Peterson opened her day with a 7-2 loss to Kristy Watling, Theresa Cannon blanked Jennifer Briscoe 9-0 and Tracy Fleury booked her spot in the championship round with an 11-4 win over Jennifer Clark-Rouire.

In the mid-afternoon draw, Fleury capped off an undefeated round robin with an 8-5 win over Peterson, sending the fourth-ranked team home. Watling secured her spot in the championship round with a 6-4 win over Cannon. Briscoe got her first win of the tournament with an 11-4 win over Clark-Rouire, who played with three players after their skip went home sick.

EXTRA ENDS: Westman curling fans can head out to Rivers on Sunday to watch the semifinal at 9 a.m., and final at 4 p.m. for $10 in what CurlManitoba is calling “Super Curl Sunday.”

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