THUNDER BAY – On paper, Krista McCarville’s team is probably the strongest it’s ever been, and that’s saying something.
Her foursome grew by one this season, the Thunder Bay rink adding 10-time New Brunswick provincial champion Andrea Kelly into the mix, the team opting to play in rotation, with McCarville and Kelly the constants, Ashley Sippala, Sarah Potts and Sudbury’s Kendra Lilly, subbing in from game to game.
McCarville, who has runner-up finishes at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in 2016 and 2022, and a bronze-medal finish last year, is looking to finally find the top of the podium this year in Calgary, the goal to wear the Maple Leaf when the national championship returns to Fort William Gardens in 2025.
First the 10-time provincial champion has to get to Calgary.
Team McCarville will be the overwhelming favourite at the Northern Ontario playdowns, that get under way on Jan. 23 in Little Current, Ont., in the heart of Manitoulin Island, one of six teams – including Thunder Bay’s Robyn Despins rink – vying for a Scotties berth.
They’ll also be the team with the biggest target on their backs, but it’s not like they’re not used to that. In fact, they relish being the team to beat.
“It’s only tough if you think about it that. We choose not to,” Kelly said. “It really is about breaking those events down to the minute. It’s about going into every game and focusing on yourselves. I know that’s all cliché things to say, but if you can do it, you have the advantage.”
Lilly, who joined Team McCarville in 2015, said knowing the other teams are gunning for them adds a little more intrigue to the playdowns.
“If anything, that almost makes us want to play harder, because all those teams want to come out with their best game against us. We’ve been in this position before. We know we have to go out and play our best. There’s a lot of great teams there, as there is every year, and we know if we’re not playing our best, then it’s anybody’s game.
“We know we want to stick to what we do best and just try to get into a groove out there.”
It’s this precise reason Kelly and Lilly made their way to Thunder Bay over the first weekend in January, the team taking part in the Performance Kia Charity Open bonspiel at Port Arthur Curling Centre. It was a chance to play with the full team together, something that’s only happened a couple of times since Kelly joined the fold.
McCarville said not practicing a lot together has its downsides, particularly trying to get used to rotating three players into two spots.
“We’re still adjusting to the rotating business that we set out to do. We did have a spiel in early December where we tried that out and it seemed to work really well,” McCarville said.
They’ll use the rotation during the round robin schedule at provincials, then will narrow it down to a steady four-person lineup come playoffs.
“That’s when we’re going to choose who we think is the best lineup to go into the final.”
There’s still plenty to work on. The team has made adjustments with its deliveries and releases. Now it’s a matter of putting the plan to the test.
“Now that we’ve done that, we want to go out there and make shots now. We want to adjust to the ice and want to make sure that we’re throwing it as pure as we can so that I can read the ice and we can all adjust to where to put the broom and how to shot the rocks.
“I think we’re done playing with our rotations and releases. We’re just going out there and putting in place what we’ve been practising all year.”
