The best eight mixed curling teams will be in town this weekend, with action starting this morning.
After a stellar season in the Moose Jaw High School Curling League, the Vanier mixed team is prepared for an elite level of competition.
“We are feeling pretty good. We are really excited and really want to play,” said skip Stacey Light.
As the host team of Light, Jonathon Wells, Kaitlin Corbin and Devon Schweiger, they already had a spot at this provincial meet, but earned their way by claiming the league title and winning at districts.
“Knowing that we won the city final and that we would automatically be here, we still wanted to go to districts and see how we did…we won that also. So, we were really excited about that,” said Light. “We feel like we have earned our spot at provincials, but we still need to keep on earning it and show everyone that we are a dominant team.”
The rink had to back out of the regional tournament earlier in February because of an wrist injury to their third, but the team has bounced back and is ready for some action.
“We wanted to make sure he was better and be fully healthy so he can play,” she explained. “We are practicing hard getting ready and we’ve had a lot of games this year, so we know that we’ve had the repetition that we need. Missing those games was something that we were disappointed about, but now we just thinking about getting those extra practices in before provincials.”
Having the provincial tournament at the Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre will help this team. After practicing in the rink all season, the team feels prepared to use their knowledge of the ice to their early benefit.
“We are really comfortable there and that we can use that to our advantage,” said Light. “We just have to keep calm and focused, but it is great to be home.”
The Vanier team will open their weekend action against Ituna this morning (11 a.m., Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre), a team they have never seen before this season.
“We’ve been following most of the teams online to see how they finish and what their scores were,” explained Light. “We’ve just been focusing on playing our best, but we will change during each game. We will see how the teams warm up and focus on their strengthens and weaknesses.”
The other teams that will be in action are Frontier, Strasbourg, Carrot River, Debden, St. Walburg and Spritwood.
“We are nervous and we all feel it, but we want to go in confident,” stated Light. “We know we are a good team and all these teams haven’t just been given a spot…they have earned it. We know they are all going to be good.”
Opening ceremonies will take place around 1 p.m. and draws continues at 2 p.m., 4:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Action runs throughout Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m. and then medal qualifiers at 2 p.m. and the bronze and gold medal games at 5 p.m.
