Moose Jaw skip’s dream comes true
All of Barker’s hard work pays off as she wins provincial championship
Moose Jaw’s Penny Barker never gave up on her dream of winning a Saskatchewan curling championship.
The skip of the newly crowned provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts championship team kept that goal alive through juniors, while curling at the collegiate level with the University of Regina, and through her time in the women’s division.
That dream came true Sunday when Barker, third Deanna Doig, second Lorraine Schneider and lead Danielle Sicinski defeated North Battleford’s Robyn Silvernagle 10-7 in the final of the women’s provincial championship.
“You just keep working at it,” Barker said after Sunday’s win at Melville’s Horizon Credit Union Centre. “You have to take your lumps as they come and really capitalize when this comes at you. I’m so excited because of how we finished it off.”
Barker, 31, visualized what it would be like to win a provincial championship. When she finally won one, she couldn’t hold back the tears.
“I’m that kind of person,” said Barker, from the Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre. “I cry when it’s the Olympics and someone else wins and their dreams come true. When my dreams come true, it’s pretty exciting.”
Barker and Co. earned a trip to the 2017 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian women’s championship, Feb. 18-26 in St. Catharines, Ont. Each member of Barker’s squad will compete at the national level for the first time.
Sicinski has experience on the other side of the glass as an organizer of two major curling events held at Moose Jaw’s Mosaic Place. She was the chair of the 2012 Canada Cup of Curling and co-chaired the 2015 Canadian Scotties.
“Going as a player is better,” Sicinski said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m excited.
“I’ve been part of hosting and a committee chair of other events. It’s exciting when you get to be a participant. It’s rewarding when you’re around the scene because you kind of know what’s going on.”
Barker is the first Moose Jaw-based skip to win a provincial women’s title since 1999 champion Cindy Ricci (née Street). The ties between Barker and Ricci teams extend to coach Merv Fonger. Fonger was Ricci’s coach and fills the same role with Barker.
“Cindy and I actually went to the same elementary school and came through the same curling program that way,” Barker said. “We both had Merv as a coach as well. She was definitely someone that I looked up to. It was her and Amber Holland that you saw doing the good things with juniors and then onto ladies. I’m happy to follow in their footsteps.”
Sicinski’s memories of Ricci’s team include the 1996 southern women’s playdowns, held in Moose Jaw.
“I was still a junior then,” said Sicinski, who has curled with Barker for eight years. “I was actually (Ricci’s) sign-carrier at the southerns back in 1996. I remember that so vividly and I have a photo of it.
“To actually be that provincial champion and look up to Cindy Street while growing up and have those goals and achieve the things that she has is pretty exciting.”
I cry when it’s the Olympics and someone else wins and their dreams come true. When my dreams come true, it’s pretty exciting.