Manitoba skip enjoying return to her home turf
Regina’s Michelle Englot is proud to have been adopted by the Manitoba curling community, but there’s no place like home.
The veteran skip is back on familiar terrain for this week’s Tour Challenge at the Co-operators Centre. It’s the first event of the season on the Grand Slam tour and the first of its kind in Regina, which makes Englot an unofficial ambassador.
“It’s really cool,” she said Thursday after improving her record to 2-1 with an 8-0 win over Tracy Fleury of Sudbury, Ont. “Since I found out that the Grand Slam was going to be hosted in Regina I’ve been excited about it. More friends and family and co-workers and people that I know have the opportunity to check out what it’s all about.”
Englot developed a long-distance relationship with her supporters last season after joining the Winnipeg-based team of Kate Cameron, Leslie Wilson and Raunora Westcott.
The trio needed a new skip after Kristy McDonald stepped away due to pregnancy. Curling Canada allows one out-of-province competitor per team, so Englot became a natural choice given her experience as a seven-time Saskatchewan champion.
“She’s super calm,” noted Cameron, 25. “She doesn’t let her game show on her face and she doesn’t let her emotions bring out the worst in her. She’s that support and leader on our team that we want.”
Englot helped lead the foursome to a Manitoba title and secondplace finish at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. They lost 8-6 in an extra end to Ontario’s Rachel Homan, who went on to win the world championship.
“It was definitely heartbreaking,” said Englot. “I’ve played in a lot of Scotties and that’s the closest I’ve come to winning it. Losing to the No. 1-ranked team in the world in an extra end is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s still disappointing but we have to be proud of what we accomplished in our first year.”
Englot admits it was surreal the first time she pulled on a yellow Manitoba jacket after so many years of wearing green. However, she quickly embraced an opportunity to become part of the province’s rich curling tradition.
“It was a proud moment for me to be able to represent Manitoba just because of how competitive the province is,” she said. “It is a big change but it has been an amazing opportunity for me to play with some very talented players who are committed to the end goal, which is making it to the Olympics (next year in South Korea). We put the team together with that in mind. We probably exceeded our goals last season. We’re just hoping to keep getting more solid as a team and to peak in December.”
Team Englot has already secured a berth in the Canadian trials, Dec. 2-10 in Ottawa. The Olympic quest has energized the 53-year-old skip, who considered giving up competitive curling before she received a long-distance call from Cameron & Co. “It is rejuvenating,” she said. “It was like, ‘Well, I have one more chance with a really solid team that is able to make the commitment to taking a shot.’ ”
That’s not to say there haven’t been sacrifices.
The team’s schedule is demanding and it can be tough to get together for practice when Englot works full time in Regina.
However, the travel arrangements weren’t an issue for this week’s Grand Slam. It also gave her new teammates a taste of Saskatchewan hospitality.
“We’ve been getting support from both provinces pretty much since the Scotties,” added Cameron. “We have two provinces behind us, so it’s nice.”