Bernard back in hack to skip at Autumn Gold
Olympic medallist begins with win while taking break from TSN broadcast booth
Cheryl Bernard stepped back into the hack with a few butterflies in her belly Friday.
No probs, though.
It’s just the way the Calgarian wanted to feel in a return — albeit brief — to competitive women’s curling, beginning with this weekend’s Autumn Gold Curling Classic at the Calgary Curling Club.
“I am a little bit nervous to play again,” Bernard admitted of her first skipping duties on the World Curling Tour in five years. “But I always want it to be that way.
“I never wanted to go out on the ice and not be a little bit nervous, because I think that’s when you’re focused and intense and play your best.”
She looked good Friday afternoon on the ice, too, guiding Casey Scheidegger’s rink to an 8-2 opening win over China’s Meini Wang on the first day of the annual event that features 32 women’s teams, including 12 representing Alberta.
Bernard is in for the 2018 Alberta queen, Scheidegger, while she prepares for the arrival of her second child next month.
Then the veteran curler will stay on board as skip of Scheidegger’s crew — third Cary-anne Mctaggart, second Jessie Haughian and lead Kristie Moore — for the Canada Cup, Nov. 27-Dec. 1 in Leduc and the Dec. 10-15 National in Conception Bay South, N.L., a Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event.
“The game doesn’t change much,” Bernard said. “Probably what I think would’ve concerned me is not staying current enough with the game, but from sitting in the broadcast booth and joining (Rachel) Homan’s team last year (as an alternate at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games), you stay pretty current with everything.”
Indeed, she’s been part of the sport as a TSN curling broadcaster since leaving competitive action in 2014.
Bernard never really intended to stay away so long, but the TSN gig took hold of her attention — and the time it commanded took away from a real commitment to competitive curling.
The game called her back, however — to skip a team on the senior women’s circuit and to take over Scheidegger’s duties for the three events.
So she’ll continue with TSN, but only part-time for the unforeseen future.
“You can’t do both,” Bernard said.
“But now I’m going to have a really fun year of curling. Because I miss it. It just never goes away. It’s in your blood forever. You don’t get these opportunities to do this, and at my age, they won’t come very often, so I didn’t want to turn it down.”
Of course, the 53-year-old is best known to Canadians for her silver medal in curling at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
But to the sport’s fans and fellow curlers, the affable Bernard is well-respected for her success in Alberta and Canadian circles and for the wealth of knowledge and competitiveness she brings to the game.
The Grande Prairie native hopes some of that might rub off on Scheidegger’s rink in the short time she’ll spend with them.
“I want to give them an opportunity to stay where they are in the (Canadian Team Ranking System) points system until Casey gets back,” Bernard said. “With their skip being gone, that’s always a difficult one. So I’d like to pull my weight and keep them up there.
“And I also think I’m in this to be a mentor — kind of be in a coach role. From what I’ve seen of them on the ice from sitting behind the glass, I think I can bring some different ideas to them as a team — and they can take it or leave it.
“But for me, it’s going to be amazing. Man, they throw the rock good, so this is a real treat for me. Hopefully the team gets something out of it, too.”
The Lethbridge rink should. After all, in Bernard, they get a seasoned vet who isn’t afraid of hard work and sharing her experience.
She’ll likely do wonders for a team she and many others praise as a next big thing in Canadian curling, having played in the last two Scotties Tournament of Hearts. EXTRA ENDS: Day 1 of the Autumn Gold saw four rinks earn two wins prior to the late draw — Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson, Scotland’s Eve Muirhead, American Nina Roth and Manitoba’s Tracy Fleury. Einarson topped Calgary’s Jessica Wytrychowski 9-0 and Edmonton’s Laura Walker 5-3. Muirhead defeated Calgary’s Kayla Skrlik 8-7 and Edmonton’s Selena Sturmay 4-0. Roth beat Saskatoon’s Sherry Anderson 9-3 and Calgary’s Chelsea Carey 6-4. Fleury upended Alberta’s Kellie Stiksma 6-4 and South Korea’s Min Ji Kim 9-7. The late draw saw: Bernard vs. Germany’s Daniela Jentsch, Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa vs. South Korea’s Eunjung Kim, Calgary’s Kaitlin Stubbs vs. Japan’s Seina Nakajima, and Russia’s Alina Kovaleva vs. Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones, who were all afternoon winners Friday ... The event continues Saturday with draws at 9 a.m., 12:45 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. Two rinks will qualify out of the ‘A’ side from Day 2 play for the playoffs, which open at 9 a.m. Monday.