THUNDER BAY – At this point, Krista McCarville can only take things one game at a time.
Whether or not the playoffs are in her future, the Northern Ontario skip says she just wants to enjoy what’s left of the week, likely the last time in her curling career the Scotties Tournament of Hearts will be held in her hometown.
The 42-year-old McCarville, making her 12th appearance at the national women’s curling championship this week at Fort William Gardens, has picked things up after an unexpected 0-4 start made her a long-shot, at best, to advance beyond round-robin play.
On Tuesday afternoon, playing her lone match of the day, McCarville won for a second straight outing, doubling up a pesky Nunavut squad skipped by Julia Weagle, a team still searching for its first win and primed for an upset of the hometown favourite.
“We still really want to win, badly. It’s still in the back of our minds about the games before that, but there’s nothing we can do about that,” McCarville said.
“We just have to move on. You know, when’s the next time a Scotties is going to be here in Thunder Bay? Probably not in my lifetime that I’ll still be curling.”
McCarville, lead Sarah Potts, second Kendra Lilly and third Andrea Kelly were forced to one, with hammer, in the opening end, but made up for it in the second, thanks to a mistake by Weagle, whose draw facing two sailed through the house.
Up 3-1 in the fifth, the Northern Ontario foursome added another deuce, McCarville left with an open hit for a 5-1 lead.
They gave two back in the fifth, after McCarville wrecked on a guard trying to duck behind cover.
They took a 6-3 lead in the seventh, then facing the real possibility of a big number from Weagle in the eighth, McCarville was able to freeze to a Nunavut stone and limited the damage to one.
“We got lucky. They came deep around the guard and kind of force me to make a freeze. You still have to make it, but with their rocks being deep in the house, I’d played that two ends before, so I knew the ice fairly well. That was the only shot we had to get out of that end,” McCarville said.
She made a tricky hit for two to put the match out of reach in the ninth, Weagle threatening to steal one and close the gap to one.
While Northern Ontario is trying to claw its way into the Scotties playoffs, Alberta’s Kayla Skrlik gave her chances a big boost with perhaps the shot of the tournament, a double-raise takeout that netted her team five, breaking open a 2-2 en route to a 10-5 win over Saskatchewan’s Nancy Martin.
“We saw our opportunity and took it and it turned into a six-point swing. It kind of sealed the deal for us,” Skrlik said.
“We saw the run-double right away and luckily my draw over-curled to put the rock there. We were pretty confident we could make that one.”
Skrlik (4-2), joined B.C.’s Corryn Brown, who didn’t play in Draw 11, with four wins, one behind defending champion Rachel Homan
Homan, who hails from Ottawa, faced a gritty test from New Brunswick’s Melissa Adams, prevailing 7-4 in a game that went down to the wire.
The playoffs aren’t clinched yet, but it’s close, she acknowledged.
“Yeah, I think we’re pretty close to playoffs. We just have to keep getting better. It wasn’t a great performance today”
One more win by Brown and Skrlik will officially eliminate McCarville from the playoffs.
Northern Ontario takes on Prince Edward Island on Wednesday morning. McCarville’s Holy Family School class is expected to be in attendance. P.E.I. fell 9-4 to Alberta’s Selena Sturmay on Wednesday afternoon.
In the rings: Homan said travel issues have prevented coach Jennifer Jones from getting to Thunder Bay, but she is expected to be in the building by the weekend.
