ENGLOT LOOKING TO END CAREER ON A HIGH NOTE
Team Canada skip says Scotties tourney will be her swan song due to job demands
Regina’s Michelle Englot doesn’t appear to be the retiring type. But she could be.
The skip of Team Canada at the 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts intends to retire from competitive curling after this season. “I want to end my career on a high note and being Team Canada is definitely a great way to go out,” Englot said, adding with a chuckle that her plans might change if she wins the 2018 Canadian women’s curling championship.
Englot, who turned 54 on Monday, still enjoys curling at a high level. However, it’s become a challenge finding a balance between curling and her job.
“I eventually want to retire from my day job,” said Englot, SaskTel’s director of external communications. “The sport has changed so much and teams need to play in all of the grand slams and dedicate more time off ice ... to stay competitive.”
Englot’s first appearance at the Scotties was in 1987 as an alternate with Regina’s Kathy Fahlman. Englot would go on to win eight Saskatchewan women’s titles as a skip while curling out of the Queen City. In 2016, she added another provincial title while curling out of Manitoba.
Englot made the curling move from Regina to Winnipeg to find teammates willing and competitive enough to make a run at representing Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Her team of third Kate Cameron, second Leslie Wilson and lead Raunora Westcott won the Manitoba title in its first year and earned a berth in the Scotties.
Englot was beaten 8-6 by Ontario’s Rachel Homan in the final of the 2017 Scotties. The second-place performance led to Englot’s squad being named Team Canada in 2018.
Homan won the Canadian Olympic team trials in December and will represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Curl Canada decided earlier that if the Canadian and Olympic team representatives were the same, the runner-up at the 2017 Scotties would compete as Team Canada due to a conflict with travelling schedules. The Winter Olympics run Feb. 9-25. The Scotties takes place from Saturday through Feb. 4.
It’s the first time since 1985, when Team Canada was added to the Scotties, that it hasn’t returned to the Canadian championship. “(Being Team Canada) is unearned in a way,’’ Englot said. “We’re still not the favourite, with (Manitoba’s) Jennifer Jones there, and whoever wins the wild-card game. We just want to play well and prove that we deserve to be there.”
Homan punched her ticket to the Winter Olympics with a 6-5 win over Calgary’s Chelsea Carey in the women’s final at the Olympic team trials. If Carey had won, Englot would have been back in the Manitoba playdowns and battling for a berth in the Scotties.
Instead, she watched Homan edge Carey at the trials, locking up Englot’s spot as Team Canada and salvaging a disappointing showing at the trials (at which she finished with a 2-6 record).
“We earned the right to get there and I was proud that we did that in just one year,’’ Englot said. “We’ve talked about regrouping, putting that in the past, and focusing on our performance in the upcoming Scotties.’’
Englot earned some of the perks of being Team Canada, such as playing in the Continental Cup of Curling. It was Englot’s first appearance at the event that features a team from North America squaring off against a European squad. The North Americans won the cup for the sixth straight year.
The extra games helped Englot prepare for last weekend’s Grand Slam of Curling Canadian Open in Camrose, Alta. Englot reached the women’s final, where she lost 10-5 to Carey. Englot earned $18,000 for the second-place showing, increasing her earnings to $33,940 on the women’s money list.
“We haven’t been far off, but we’re losing by a shot here or there, and it makes it a big difference when you’re playing against the top teams every time.”