THUNDER BAY – Sometimes, small victories loom large.
For Team Northern Ontario, an 0-4 start at this year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts derailed their hopes of winning a national women’s curling championship at home.
The goal, at that point, became finishing the week at .500, winning their final four games for the fans, but more importantly, for themselves.
Mission accomplished.
The five-member team, led by skip Krista McCarville, enjoyed a second straight blow-out in their final game of the tournament, downing Melissa Adams’ New Brunswick rink 9-3 on Thursday afternoon, evening their record at four wins and four losses.
Unfortunately for McCarville, leads Sarah Potts and Ashley Sippala, second Kendra Lilly and third Andrea Kelly, it left them two games shy of advancing to the Scotties playoffs, something they’d come to grips with earlier in the week as the losses began to pile up.
“When you start 0-4, you’re just hoping to go .500 in the tournament. We played a lot better the last four games, and I think that’s the team that we are, the team that we played (like) to finish off the tournament. So that does feel a lot better,” McCarville said.
“You still don’t feel 100 per cent, but finishing off strong is a good thing.”
For Potts, who rotated in and out of the lineup throughout the week, as did Sippala and Lilly, said it was a bittersweet way to say goodbye to the 2025 Scotties.
“It was nice to play well, but it was also like why couldn’t we have done that a little bit earlier?
“We had a tough start. The teams we played were really strong. We’re just glad the crowd hung in there with us. They didn’t start booing us, they were still cheering us right until the end. So that helped a little bit,” Potts said.
After stealing singles in the third and fourth to take a 4-0 lead on Adams, the two teams traded deuces in the fifth and sixth.
That’s when McCarville put her stamp on the match, forcing the New Brunswick skip, whose team includes lead Kendra Lister, second Kayla Russell and third Jaclyn Crandall, to a draw against three.
Adams’ shot slid long, giving McCarville a steal of three and a 9-2 lead through seven.
Adams got one back in the eighth before the two teams shook hands, the crowd giving a thunderous cheer to send the Northern Ontario rink out with their heads held high.
What comes next for Team McCarville remains to be seen. They’re hoping to collect enough points to get into the Olympic Pre-Trials, scheduled for Wolfville N.S. from Oct. 21 to Oct. 26.
The top eight teams in the Canadian Team Ranking system not already qualified for the Pre-Trials at the end of the 2025 season earn a berth. McCarville is ranked 17th and would need to move up at least half-a-dozen spots to get in.
“We have been looking into the points and every win out here is more points. There’s a lot of us really jammed in there,” McCarville said. “We’ll have to go and took a look at where we’re at and see what we need to do to maybe, possibly get a spot in the Pre-Trials. I think we definitely need a little bit of time, a little break, and then we’ll see what happens after that.”
Kelly joined the team prior to last season, with a two-year commitment, their eyes on the Scotties in Thunder Bay.
