THE CANADIAN PRESS
REGINA — Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink doesn’t want to be known as one of the best skips that has never won a Canadian women’s curling championship.
The Calgarian has won many major events in the sport and is dominant on the cashspiel circuit, but hasn’t made the playoffs in two previous appearances at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Kleibrink, the 2006 Olympic bronze medallist and current leader of both the World Curling Tour’s money list and Canadian women’s team rankings, hopes that will change this year.
Alberta won their third straight game to open the Canadian championship with an 8-5 win over Kerry Galusha of the Territories on Sunday.
"Every time you come here, you want to make the best of it because it’s not easy to get back," Kleibrink said. "So we’re going to do everything we can to be there on the final couple days."
Alberta was 3-0 and alone at the top of the leaderboard Sunday in front of five teams at 2-1.
Ontario’s Sherry Middaugh and Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones lost Sunday after opening the tournament with two wins. Heather Strong of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia’s Mary-Anne Arsenault and Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche were also 2-1.
Jones fell 6-5 in an extra end to Nova Scotia. Middaugh dropped an 8-7 decision to Quebec after beating Saskatchewan’s Michelle Englot 7-4 earlier in the day.
Alberta faces Nova Scotia and defending champion Kelly Scott on Monday.
"We’ve got a lot of the big teams ahead of us, so we had to make sure we were at least 2-1 going into the next grouping (of games)," Kleibrink said. "We’re going to have to get more aggressive. We’re going to have to probably junk it up a little bit more."
Scott’s Team Canada, Saskatchewan, B.C.’s Allison MacInnes, P.E.I.’s Suzanne Gaudet and New Brunswick’s Sylvie Robichaud were 1-2. The Territories were winless after three games.
Newfoundland’s Strong scored three in the 10th end to beat MacInnes 9-7. Scott fell 8-6 to Saskatchewan in the evening draw after beating Quebec 8-4 earlier Sunday.
Kleibrink executed a tricky run-back double to beat Newfoundland 6-4 in the afternoon draw.
Kleibrink beat Scott in the final of the Olympic trials in 2005 and went on to win bronze at the Olympics in Turin, Italy. She skipped Alberta to a Canadian mixed title in 2004.
She feels she’s closed a circle in her curling life by winning the Alberta provincials this year to earn a trip to Regina.
Kleibrink lost to Sandra Schmirler in the trials final for the 1998 Olympics on a spectacular shot by Schmirler.
The Schmirler team returned from Nagano, Japan, to their hometown of Regina, with Olympic gold medals in hand, just in time to play in the Canadian championship that year.
Schmirler died of cancer in 2000. The 10th anniversary of her team’s Olympic triumph is being celebrated here again in Regina at this national championship.
"I was kind of a part of that history because they beat us to go to the Olympics and we were ever so glad they won gold after they did that," Kleibrink said.
.Manitoba stole two points against Nova Scotia, but gave up three in the third and allowed Arsenault’s team to steal a point in the eighth.
After blanking the ninth end, Jones had to hit for one and give up last-rock advantage to Nova Scotia in the extra end. Arsenault made her draw to the four-foot rings for the win.
"We had control early and they played better in the back half," Jones said. "We just didn’t take advantage of our opportunities and against these types of teams, you can’t do that."
Arsenault throws fourth stones and Nancy Delahunt, who throws lead stones, calls the shots as skip. They and Kim Kelly won five Canadian championships during a six-year span with skip Colleen Jones between 1999 and 2006.
Delahunt and Kelly are winding down their curling careers, but Arsenault intends to continue in the sport at an elite level with an eye to the 2010 Olympics.
"For me, to have Mary-Anne, who I know has a future in curling, come here and have to make those kinds of shots, that is why I am here," Delahunt said. "That’s the first time she’s had to throw a last rock in a Scott to win a game, so I’m hoping she’s going to get lots of those chances."
Saskatchewan skip Michelle Englot learned the day before the tournament opened that her father Joel died of a heart attack. The Brandt Centre spectators support her so much, they’ve cheered misses by Saskatchewan’s opposition in each of their three games.
"I don’t think they’re cheering the miss," Englot said. "I think they’re cheering the score, that we scored. Curling is a game of etiquette, but when you play in an arena, it happens all the time, whether you’re the home team or not."
Said Middaugh, who was born in Rosetown, Sask.: "We know it’s not personal. I’ve seen crowds that heckle when teams miss and that’s mean-spirited. The crowd is just behind their Saskatchewan team and you can’t blame them."