Joey Payeur
All things being equal (or, in this case, all rinks), Kathie Jackson likes her team’s chances.
Jackson will skip an all-Fort Frances rink—featuring third Teresa McFayden, second Lisa Penner, and lead Kris Sinclair—at the Dominion Curling Club Championships at the Fort William Curling Club in Thunder Bay beginning Monday and running until Nov. 23.
“We’re going in blind,” Jackson admitted.
“Everybody at this level has achieved the same thing we have” she noted. “So it’s anybody’s game.”
It will be the first foray into the event for Jackson’s quartet, which reached the nationals by surpassing even their own expectations.
“We got together two years ago with the goal of getting to the [club championship] provincials,” Jackson recalled.
“We got [to Sault Ste. Marie in April] and wanted to make the playoffs,” she added. “Then we go out there and win.”
Jackson has curled in the Scotties women’s provincials in the past, but the lure of a national club championship was alluring mainly because of its feasibility.
“This is more attainable for us living in an area like we do,” remarked Jackson.
“We’re all club curlers and this is what it’s all about,” she stressed.
“To be as good as those teams are that play the Scotties nationals, you have to travel so far to get the kind of competition you need to reach that level,” she reasoned.
“Those playing at that level are almost like professionals.”
That doesn’t mean the high-profile organizers aren’t aiming to put on a first-class show.
“With people like Heather Houston, Al Hackner, and Rick Lang all running the event, and all being former national or world champions, they’re trying to make it feel as close to a Scotties or a [Tim Hortons] Brier as they can,” lauded Jackson.
The Dominion will be a homecoming of sorts for Jackson, who described herself as “born and raised” in the Fort William Curling Club.
“For me, it’s really exciting,” she enthused.
“The fact that we will all be able to have family and friends come see us play will be a big advantage,” she added.
There will be two pools in the women’s division, with each team playing six games.
The top two in each pool will advance to the playoffs.
Northern Ontario opens play Monday at 7:15 p.m. (CT) against Manitoba, skipped by Stacey Fordyce of Brandon.
