BY WGO STAFF
Fans in Sydney will be treated to a world-class field of teams when the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts gets underway on February 16 at Centre 200.
Provincial and territorial playdowns are wrapped up, and we know 15 of the 16 teams who will be chasing the Canadian Women’s Curling Championship, including a collection of Olympic, World and former Canadian champions.
The field is headed by defending champion Jennifer Jones and her team from Winnipeg — vice-skip Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jocelyn Peterman, lead Dawn McEwen, alternate Jill Officer and coach Viktor Kjäll. Jones will be attempting to win her record seventh Scotties championship; she currently is tied at six with Nova Scotia’s Colleen Jones.
But Jones will be pushed hard by 2017 champion Rachel Homan of Ottawa, who along with vice-skip Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney, lead Lisa Weagle and coach Marcel Rocque captured the Ontario women’s championship last weekend in Elmira to pad her lead in the 2018-19 CTRS standings.
As well, 2016 Scotties champ Chelsea Carey has returned, albeit with a new team from Calgary that features vice-skip Sarah Wilkes, second Dana Ferguson, lead Rachel Brown and coach Dan Carey.
Meanwhile, Nova Scotia fans will have an experienced team to cheer for as Jill Brothers will be playing in her fourth Scotties, and will be bringing even more experience with her to Sydney as five-time Scotties champ Kim Kelly — Colleen Jones’s longtime teammate — will be the Nova Scotia alternate.
The Bluenosers will have some intriguing early matchups, including an opening-draw showdown against Scotties rookie Sarah Wark and her B.C. team on February 16 at 2:30 pm.
Nova Scotia then has a huge pair of Sunday assignments — the morning draw at 9:30 am against Alberta’s Carey foursome, followed by a Sunday night clash with Homan’s Ontario powerhouse.
The 16th and final qualifier will be decided on Friday, February 15. The Wild Card game at Centre 200 will feature the top two non-qualified teams from the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) — Kerri Einarson’s team from Gimli, Manitoba, and Team Casey Scheidegger from Lethbridge, Alberta. Admission is free, but donations to the Curling Canada Foundation, helping youth curling across Canada, are being accepted at the door.
The 16 teams have been split into two pools of eight. The top four teams from each pool after the preliminary round robin will then advance to a championship pool that will determine the final four playoff teams.
Here’s a look at how the two pools set up:
| POOL A | POOL B |
| 1. Ontario: Rachel Homan (Emma Miskew, Joanne Courtney, Lisa Weagle, Marcel Rocque; Ottawa) | 2. Team Canada: Jennifer Jones (Kaitlyn Lawes, Jocelyn Peterman, Dawn McEwen, Jill Officer, Viktor Kjäll; Winnipeg) |
| 4. Manitoba: Tracy Fleury (Selena Njegovan, Liz Fyfe, Kristin MacCuish, Taylor McDonald, Andrea Ronnebeck; East St. Paul) | 3. Wild Card – decided Friday, February 15 |
| 5. Alberta: Chelsea Carey (Sarah Wilkes, Dana Ferguson, Rachel Brown, Dan Carey; Calgary) | 6. Saskatchewan: Robyn Silvernagle (Stefanie Lawton, Jessie Hunkin, Kara Thevenot, Marliese Kasner, Lesley McEwan; North Battleford) |
| 8. British Columbia: Sarah Wark (Kristen Pilote, Carley Sandwith, Michelle Dunn, Jen Rusnell, Rick Fewster; Abbotsford) | 7. Prince Edward Island: Suzanne Birt (Marie Christianson, Meaghan Hughes, Michelle McQuaid, Mitch O’Shea; Charlottetown) |
| 9. Northern Ontario: Krista McCarville (Kendra Lilly, Jen Gates, Sarah Potts, Rick Lang; Thunder Bay) | 10. Northwest Territories: Kerry Galusha (Sarah Koltun, Brittany Tran, Shona Barbour, John Epping; Yellowknife) |
| 12. Nova Scotia: Jill Brothers (Erin Carmody, Sarah Murphy, Jenn Brine, Kim Kelly, Taylor Ardiel; Halifax) | 11. New Brunswick: Andrea Crawford (Jillian Babin, Jennifer Armstrong, Katie Forward, Charlie Sullivan; Saint John) |
| 13. Quebec: Gabrielle Lavoie (Patricia Boudreault, Anna Munroe, Julie Daigle, Marie-France Larouche, Daniel Charette; Quebec City/Saint-Romuald) | 14. Yukon: Nicole Baldwin (Hailey Birnie, Ladene Shaw, Helen Strong, Wade Scoffin; Whitehorse) |
| 16. Nunavut: Jenine Bodner [throws second] (Jennifer Blaney [throws fourth], Alison Griffin [throws third], Megan Ingram, Sadie Pinksen, Susanne Martin; Iqaluit) | 15. Newfoundland/Labrador: Kelli Sharpe (Stephanie Guzzwell, Beth Hamilton, Carrie Vautour, Michelle Jewer, Leslie Anne Walsh) |
(teams listed according to seeding, and listed in order of skip, vice-skip, second, lead, alternate, coach)
CLICK HERE to check the schedule for the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. You can purchase tickets at the Centre 200 box office, online at curling.ca/tickets or by phone at 902-564-2200.
