First Scotties national championship. First game. First win for Sarah Hill and her St. John’s teammates.
Hill, skip of Newfoundland and Labrador’s entry at the 2021 Scottie Tournament of Hearts Canadian women’s curling championship, debuted with an 8-7 win over New Brunswick’s Melissa Adams during second-draw play Saturday in Calgary.
Hill did have to hang on for the win; she led 8-3 through six ends, but Adams scored singles in four consecutive ends, — the last three on steals — to make it close.
N.L. third Beth Hamilton is at her fourth Scotties and third her straight, but the rest of the starting line-up — Hill, second Lauren Barron and lead Adrienne Mercer — are all rookies.
Brooke Godsland is the alternate, while five-time provincial women’s champion Laura Phillips is the coach.
Phillips wasn't in Calgary for Saturday's win. Because of COVID-19 guidelines in Newfoundland, she wasn't expected to arrive in Alberta until the next day or so. Hill explained Phillips was a close contact of a known case and even though she had tested negative on more than one occasion, public health protocols meant she still needed to self-isolate for two weeks before getting an all-clear to travel.
Because of the pandemic, this Scotties is being conducted in a bubble setting in Calgary, with no fans, limited interaction and a myriad of restrictions. Even then, there was a scare Saturday when a member of Team Northwest Territories became ill. A news release from Curling Canada says the player came down with a suspected case of food poisoning overnight and has been assessed by event’s Chief Medical Officer.
It is not believed this will not impact the team’s ability to continue in the event, although as a precaution, the NWT's game against Canada scheduled for Saturday afternoon was postponed until Monday.
The rest of the team is not showing any similar symptoms, and have all tested negative on previous COVID tests, as recently as Friday, and have passed all twice-daily wellness checks, including Saturday morning.
The player who became ill was to receive a COVID PCR test Saturday and her teammates will self-isolate until the results of the test are known
Newfoundland and Labrador is not in the same preliminary-round pool as the Northwest Territories.
Next up for the Hill rink is a game against Nunavut on Sunday afternoon.
N.L. SKED
Newfoundland and Labrador’s schedule at the 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts:
- Saturday — Defeated New Brunswick 8-7
- Sunday — Draw 6, 5 p.m,. vs Nunavut
- Monday — Draw 8, 5 p.m., vs Prince Edward Island
- Tuesday — Draw 10, noon, vs Manitoba and Draw 12, 10 p.m., vs British Columbia
- Wednesday — Draw 14, 5 p.m., Quebec
- Thursday — Draw 16, noon vs Wild Card 1 and Draw 18, 10 p.m., vs. Saskatchewan
There is an 18-team field in Calgary, with representatives of the 10 provinces, three territories and Northern Ontario, along with the defending champions (Team Canada) and three wild-card selections.
The 18 entries are divided into two nine-team pools for round-robin play.
The top four finishers from each pool will advance to the championship round, taking their round-robin records with them. The top three finishers in the championship round move on to the playoffs, with the first-place team getting a direct bye to the final.