ENGLOT ENLISTS HOWARD AS CURLING COACH.
Michelle Englot has turned over another stone in pursuit of another Saskatchewan women’s curling championship.
The veteran skip has added curling legend Russ Howard as her coach for the provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts, which begins Wednesday in Assiniboia.
It started when Howard’s daughter, Ashley, was hired recently as the senior marketing co-ordinator for KPMG’s Regina location. Englot was looking for a second because Roberta Materi elected to take time off from curling. Englot knew Ashley was in Regina and asked her join the team. Ashley later mentioned that Russ might be interested in coaching.
Those family ties led to Howard agreeing to coach Englot along with third Candace Chisholm and lead Kristy Johnson. It was a move that made a great deal of sense to Englot.
“He’s obviously one of the greatest strategists in the game,” said Englot, who is heading to her 23rd provincial women’s championship. “We really bought into what he was selling the weekend we did work with him. He has some suggestions and things like that which can take us to a higher level.”
Howard has reached the highest levels of the game as a player. He’s a two-time Canadian and world champion and a gold medallist in men’s curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. Howard is currently an analyst with TSN’s curling coverage, which Englot feels further enhances his value.
“I could listen to him all day,” said Englot, a seventime Saskatchewan women’s champion. “He has great stories, but he also has very good insights. We’re excited about working with him through the whole provincials. It’s also about rock matching as well. I don’t think there is a better rock matcher than him. That’s also critical when you’re going into a club when you don’t know what the rocks are going to be like.”
To date, Howard has only coached Englot’s team during the Red Deer Curling Classic in mid-November. Howard was impressed after watching Englot and Co. reach a C-event qualifying game before bowing out of the World Curling Tour event.
“Michelle is such a smart skip,” Howard said. “What I like about what she does is she can get the broom in the right spot for the rest of the team. That’s half of the battle at that level.”
Howard arrived in Regina on Monday after covering the men’s and women’s Pinty’s All-Star Curling Skins Game in Banff, Alta., for TSN. He conducted a practice with Englot and Ashley on Monday night. He was to work with the full team tonight before leaving for Assiniboia.
Howard doesn’t intend on making any physical changes to Englot’s team before the provincials. His coaching contributions will focus on strategy and other aspects of the game.
“I’m the last one to go to Michelle and say, ‘You have to change your delivery,’ or anything like that,” Howard said. “What I can impart is if they are going to miss, let’s do it the right way and let’s be smart about it.”
Howard’s role of coach will be limited to the provincial championship, though, because he’s committed to covering the Canadian women’s curling championship Feb. 14-28 in Moose Jaw.
“The girls aren’t paying me enough to quit TSN,” Howard said with a chuckle. “I’m sure they will have someone waiting in the wings.”
PEBBLES: Stefanie Lawton, the defending provincial champion who hails from Saskatoon, is the top-seeded team heading into the provincial championship. Englot, who was beaten 5-2 by Lawton in the 2014 final, is seeded second. Englot is followed by Chantelle Eberle of the Callie, Trish Paulsen of Saskatoon and Brett Barber of Biggar. The other skips in order of rankings are Penny Barker (Moose Jaw), Lana Vey (Callie), Jessica Hanson (Saskatoon), Mandy Selzer (Balgonie), Brenda Goertzen (Saskatoon), Shalon Fleming (Highland) and Wendy Thienes (Shaunavon) … The teams are split into two pools of six. The top two teams in each pool (barring tiebreakers) advance to Saturday’s Page playoff games. The semifinal is Sunday at 1 p.m., followed by the final at 5 p.m. … Access Communications is covering the semifinal and final live. The feed will also be available to Shaw customers.
Rosters and draw times appear in Local Score-Board.