Lucas Punkari
The 2012 Scotties Tournament of Hearts officially gets underway tomorrow in Red Deer, Alta. for Tracy Horgan’s Sudbury rink, which features Devlin native and former Muskie Jenna Enge at second, when Team Ontario opens round-robin play against P.E.I.’s Kim Dolan.
However, as Enge can attest, the last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind for her and the rest of her team as they prepared for their first-ever appearance at the national women’s curling championship.
“We have been very busy over the last little bit,” she noted.
“There has been so many things that have had to be done ahead of time, such as shopping for our many events that we will be attending in Red Deer, along with doing many surprise spur-of-the-moment interviews, which we love doing.
“Also, we have been helping at Laurentian University curling practices and playing our own games at night,” Enge added.
“Plus we had our send-off party at the Idylwylde Golf and Country Club on Monday night, which was a huge success.”
The Horgan rink, which also includes third Jennifer Seabrook, lead Amanda Gates, fifth Jennifer Gates, and coach Louise Logan, will get their first on-ice action of sorts today when they take part in the Ford “Hot Shots” competition.
That event sees players from all 12 teams at the Scotties show off their shot-making abilities in a variety of different scenarios, with the eventual winner earning a lease on a Ford vehicle for a year.
“I think that event will help us a lot before the competition,” Gates said.
“It will give us a chance to be on the ice in the arena with all the other teams and settle our nerves down a bit, and it will also help our skip [Horgan] give a pre-competition read on the ice,” she reasoned.
“Plus, Jenna needs a new vehicle so this could start her week off with a very exciting perk,” Gates joked.
Even though this will be their first appearance at the Scotties, the Horgan rink is planning to approach the coming week the same way they did at the provincial playdowns in Kenora in January, where they defeated defending champ Rachel Homan in a dramatic 8-6 final.
“We are fortunate to come from a province with such strong competition and many experienced teams, and as a result, it’s a great preparation for us heading into the nationals,” Horgan explained.
“We are also glad that we have had the opportunity to play about half of the teams that are in this year’s field on the World Curling Tour, and that should help us control our nerves.
“It’s important for us to stay calm and confident, and not get too caught up in the field and the atmosphere of the event,” she stressed.
After their opening draw against Dolan, which goes at 2 p.m. (CST), the Horgan rink returns to action Sunday at 2:30 p.m. against last year’s third-place rink from Nova Scotia, skipped by Heather Smith-Dacey.
Team Ontario then will play two-time Scotties champ Kelly Scott (B.C.) on Sunday night before going up against Alberta’s Heather Nedohin on Monday morning, with Saskatchewan’s Michelle Englot awaiting them that night.
Round-robin play concludes Thursday night, with the final slated for Sunday, Feb. 26 at 2:30 p.m.
