Joey Payeur
Heavy described both Tracy Fleury’s last shot and Jenna Walsh’s heart.
Fleury’s try at drawing behind cover slid too far to give Thunder Bay’s Krista McCarville a 10-6 win over the Sudbury-based skip Saturday in the final of the 2017 Scotties provincial women’s championship in Nipigon.
McCarville successfully defended her title and once again will represent Northern Ontario at the Scotties national championship Feb. 18-26 in St. Catharines.
She made the final last year before losing to Alberta’s Chelsea Carey.
Meanwhile, it was a bitter pill to swallow for Team Fleury, the 2012 Ontario and 2015 Northern Ontario champs, which included Walsh (nee Enge) playing second, Crystal Wesbster at third, Amanda Gates at lead and Jenn Wylie at fifth.
“Amanda set us up with two centre guards and the steal [to force] the extra end was very possible,” said Walsh, a Devlin native and former Muskie curler.
“On my first stone, I was a bit light on an out-turn draw and wrecked on the guard,” she recalled.
“On my second, I made a freeze tap on a McCarville counter.
“Tracy was given an opportunity on her last shot to bury our stone but was too heavy,” added Walsh.
“The results of the final day were definitely disappointing and will sting for a while,” Walsh admitted.
“But we know Team McCarville will be a great representative of Northern Ontario at the Scotties.”
Fleury opened the four-team, double round-robin event at 5-0 before losing 5-4 to McCarville earlier Saturday and then again in the final.
Walsh believed the team played “amazing” during the double round-robin portion, and that she did very well the whole week leading up to the final, where she thought she struggled with her draw weight.
She pegged the rink’s 10-7 win over McCarville in their first meeting in Draw 3 as their best game of the week.
“That gave us a lot of confidence going into the last round-robin game,” noted Walsh.
Team Fleury will continue practising and playing various bonspiels throughout Canada as it tries to earn its way into the next Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event, the WestJet Players’ Championship, from April 11-16 in Toronto.
Through those various events, the Fleury contingent will be gunning for important Canadian Team Ranking System points that could garner the veterans an eventual berth in the 2017 Tim Hortons “Roar of the Rings” Olympic qualifying trials in Ottawa from Dec. 2-10 for the chance to represent Canada at next year’s Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“The CTRS race for the Olympic trials is still very tight and we have more work to do to meet our goal to qualify before the end of the season,” conceded Walsh.
For two other Muskie alumni in Hailey Beaudry of Fort Frances and Erin Tomalty from Nestor Falls, their first trip to the women’s provincials was full of thrills, if not victories.
Beaudry was the skip and Tomalty the lead for their Thunder Bay-based team, which also serves as the Lakehead University Thunderwolves’ women’s rink, that went 1-4 in Nipigon to finish third.
“I think the team performed awesome,” enthused Beaudry, who celebrated her 20th birthday on the weekend.
“We had actually only played one game together before going into provincials, so I was really happy with how the team came together and connected on the ice,” she said.
Thunderwolves’ coach Dick Henderson thought it would be a good idea for the young rink to get their feet wet at the provincials so it was more battle tested come the Ontario University Association playdowns Feb. 15-20 in Toronto and then the Canadian Interuniversity Sport national championships, which Lakehead U. will host March 18-22.
“I feel like this past weekend has allowed us to play against some of the hardest teams out there, and that will prepare us really well for the next couple of months,” reasoned Beaudry.
The two ex-Muskies looked like anything but greenhorns in the opening ends of their first two games.
They built a 5-2 advantage after four ends against Fleury before giving up 12 unanswered points to fall 14-5 in their opener.
Beaudry then scored a three-ender in the first against McCarville before giving up 10-straight in losing 10-3.
“It was incredible,” Beaudry marvelled about getting such leads against more accomplished opponents.
“I had fears of getting blown out and not even scoring against such skilled teams, [so] getting on the scoreboard and leading the games for even just a few ends was an incredible feeling,” she said.
“Playing the McCarville and Fleury teams was nerve-wracking and we went out there with all that we had.
“They are amazing teams so, obviously, getting down a couple of points would not stop them,” added Beaudry.
“They are very consistent and took the times where we had missed a shot and used that.
“Playing those teams, you definitely really see how making shots can make or break an end,” she noted.
Beaudry and Tomalty then reached a significant milestone when they earned their first Scotties win with an 8-7 comeback victory over Larissa Mikkelsen (Thunder Bay).
Mikkelsen led 7-4 after eight before Beaudry took two in the ninth, then stole two in the 10th to pull out the win.
“It came down to my last shots,” Beaudry recalled.
“They had one just biting the 12-foot and for my first shot, we did a wide draw into the top 12-foot around our guard,” she explained.
“They came up short on a tap and then our team made another come-around on my last shot into the four-foot down the same path.
“Those two shots were true team shots,” Beaudry stressed. “The sweeping from Erin and [second Emily Cooney] was amazing and [third Kendra Lemieux] had a great line call.
“The Mikkelsen team did come up short on their last one, but our team made all of our shots and made it as hard as we possibly could for them to come out on top.”
That gave Beaudry a win on her last day as a teenager and exactly 20 years after her mother, Kim Beaudry, also competed at the Scotties provincials.
“It’s pretty cool to win my first Scotties game at the age of 19,” Beaudry admitted.
“It’s also neat to think that just 20 years ago, my mom was still in the same competitions,” she added.
Tomalty also was able to leave Nipigon with her head held high.
“To be able to play such great teams that have played at such a high level, it was an unreal opportunity,” said Tomalty, who skipped the Muskie girls’ team to an OFSAA appearance last season–just as Beaudry had done two years earlier.
“I think we kept up pretty good for being a new team, and I definitely think that we can compete with the best of teams in upcoming events,” she remarked.
“As we continue to practice as a team throughout the year with games in Toronto in February, I think we will be able to build a very strong team.”
