Devereaux’s taken on a lead role at Slam in C.B.S.

St. John’s curler is a fill-in on Casey Scheidegger’s entry at the National

Brad Gushue and his St. John’s rink are the featured entry at the Boost National, the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event being held at the Conception Bay South Arena this week.

But Gushue and his teammates, Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker, aren’t the only curlers providing Newfoundland and Labrador representation in the competition.

Julie Devereaux, who normally curls with the Erica Curtis rink at the Re/max Centre in St. John’s, is filling in and throwing first stones for the Casey Scheidegger rink out of Lethbridge, Alta

That team’s regular lead, Kristie Moore, is acting as skip this week as Scheidegger is on maternity leave.

Devereaux was the second for a team skipped by her sister, Stacie Curtis, that won three straight provincial women’s championships (20162018) and played in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian championships.

There’s another fill-in lead with a local connection at this Grand Slam. That’s Edmonton’s Laura Walker, who is married to Gushue’s lead. She is playing with the Jennifer Jones rink from Winnipeg in place of an ailing Dawn Mcewen, who didn’t make the trip to Newfoundland.

The Gushue and Scheidegger rinks both took 1-0 records into their games in Wednesday’s late draw at the National. The results of those matchups — Gushue against Matt Dunstone, Scheidegger versus

Scotland’s Eve Muirhead — weren’t available at The Telegram’s press deadline, but can be found online at thetelegram. com.

Both teams have afternoon games today. Scheidegger plays

Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa at 12:30 p.m., while Gushue takes on Scotland’s Ross Paterson, who won last year’s National in C.B.S., in a 4:30 p.m. matchup.

TWITTER The Brad Gushue curling rink’s lone game at the Boost National Wednesday was in the late draw at the Conception Bay South Arena, but Geoff Walker, Brett Gallant, Gushue and Mark Nichols were still busy earlier in the day, helping pack hampers at the Community Food Sharing Association. Addressing the needs of the hungry will also be a goal of the Gushue rink today. Purolator, one of the team’s sponsors, will be collecting cash donations at the door at the C.B.S. Arena to be given to a local food bank. Donations will also provide a chance to win an autographed Gushue team jacket.

CURLING CANADA/ANDREW KLAVER In this file photo, Julie Devereaux (left) and Erica Trickett (right) prepare to sweep a shot by Newfoundland and Labrador skip Stacie Curtis during the 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian women’s curling championship in Penticton, B.C. Devereaux is competing in the Boost National, this week’s Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event in Conception Bay South, as the temporary lead on the Casey Scheidegger rink.