Veteran Mccarville aiming for Scotties return in crazy season
Veteran skip Krista Mccarville has the blueprint down for how to approach a limited curling season.
Her team of Kendra Lilly, Ashley Sippala and Sarah Potts, based in Thunder Bay, Ont., usually focus on training and play in only three or four bonspiels due to work and family commitments.
The setup works for all involved and they’ve been consistent contenders at the national curling championships despite a sporadic competition schedule.
With the 2020-21 calendar a work in progress due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Team Mccarville’s formula is one that other teams may want to follow.
“Even though it’s COVID times and not too many bonspiels are happening, it’s kind of almost the same as we have (prepared) in the past,” Mccarville said. “We know our drills with practising ... even if it’s just practising on our own, we’re going out there with a purpose. We’re not just going to shoot rocks.”
Mccarville’s team made the playoffs at last year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts but settled for a fourth-place finish. She has reached the national playdowns in four of the past five years and qualified for the playoffs each time, with her best result a silver medal in 2016.
Several bonspiels have been cancelled or postponed this season and many curling clubs remain closed. Some facilities plan to open later this fall while others may not reopen until the new year, if at all.
In addition, travel restrictions have impacted several teams. Many are competing in local or regional bonspiels instead.
Mccarville plays in a competitive league in Thunder Bay with Potts and Sippala but their event schedule remains up in the air. Lilly, the vice-skip, plans to travel from her hometown of Sudbury, Ont., for weekend onand off-ice training sessions with the team and coach Rick Lang.
“I think they really pride themselves in kind of being the best amateur team in the world, if that’s accurate,” Lang said. “They really are competing against (pro) teams that play full-time all the time.”
“Meaningful, impactful training” is the most critical piece for elite teams in this modified 2020-21 campaign, said Curling Canada high-performance director Gerry Peckham.
“Most of them come with all of the experience that you need to compete and prevail on an international landscape,” he said. “So they don’t need more exposure to ice conditions or strategic situations or opposition. What they really need is the opportunity to get their game sharp and to get back to the skill level that they were performing at arguably at the close of last season.”
Normally, Team Mccarville would play a few events in the prairies, northern U.S., or southern Ontario, but travel is tougher with various restrictions in place.
“It’s probably best that we just kind of stay within our district and do what we can do here,” said Mccarville, who’s a Grade 6 teacher.
Unlike most elite teams that build around the ultimate goal of qualifying for the Winter Olympics, Team Mccarville is more focused on success at the nationals.
“Our goal is always to win the Scotties,” she said. “So we’re definitely looking forward to the next four months of practising to hopefully gear up towards the Scotties. We don’t even know 100 per cent if there will be (one) yet. But that’s what we practise for.”
The Northern Ontario playdowns set for late January in Kenora, Ont., remain on the schedule along with the Feb. 20-28 Scotties at the Fort William Gardens in Mccarville’s hometown.
Mccarville would be a huge draw — a comparison to Newfoundland and Labrador skip Brad Gushue at the 2017 Brier in St. John’s comes to mind — but first she would need to win the qualifier.
However, given that packed arenas and the normal festivaltype trappings that come with hosting a Scotties or a Brier will likely be impossible this season, a hub approach in a fanless arena may be a more realistic possibility for Curling Canada in order to salvage its remaining events.
The Continental Cup was one of six competitions cancelled last month by the federation. The status of the remaining events on the season remained unchanged, the federation said at the time.
The scheduled host cities for cancelled events agreed to host future championships instead.