You can’t blame Casey Scheidegger is she’s feeling a little bit of swagger entering provincial playdowns.
The Lethbridge, Alta., native is in the midst of a banner season on tour capturing four championships including her first career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title, in her elite-level series debut no less, earlier this month at the Meridian Canadian Open.
Scheidegger is on a roll leading into the Jiffy Lube Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts — beginning Wednesday in St. Albert, Alta. — for a chance to represent the province for the first time at the national championship next month in St. Catharines, Ont.
“For sure we’re going to be confident heading in,” Team Scheidegger lead Stephanie Enright said following the Meridian Canadian Open victory. “There are other teams there who have had good seasons too aside from being in Grand Slams, like on the Alberta tour, so you always have to play good in Alberta.
“It’s such a good field. You have to go in and know you have to play well to win, so hopefully Casey stays hot there because we’re going to need that for sure to win there.”
On the surface things might appear more open with Calgary’s Chelsea Carey not returning to defend the provincial title. Carey earned the Team Canada auto-berth to the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts as the reigning champion. Another notable absentee from the field is Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque, who is in Kazakhstan along with teammate Taylor McDonald to compete for Canada at the Winter Universiade.
Even with two of the top teams missing in action, it’ll still be a tough road ahead headlined by Edmonton’s Val Sweeting, a three-time provincial champ and two-time national silver medallist. Sweeting has a Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title victory to her name this season as well taking the Tour Challenge in November. Scheidegger scored a win over Sweeting during the Meridian Canadian Open semifinals en route to her championship though.
Calgary’s Nadine Chyz has also captured four championships on tour this year and is poised for a breakout at provincials too. Add veterans Geri-Lynn Ramsay, Kalynn Virtue and Shannon Kleibrink, the 2006 Olympic bronze medallist, to the mix and you can figure out why Team Scheidegger is cautious, but optimistic about their chances.
“We know that we’ll have to play so well at provincials as well because there are going to be numerous teams that want it just as bad as us and have had great seasons like we have as well,” Scheidegger said. “We’re going to have to bring our A game and keep working hard.”
Watch coverage of the Alberta Scotties live Sunday on Sportsnet One starting with the semifinal at 1 p.m. ET followed by the final at 7 p.m. ET.