A special experience
SUMMERSIDE – The 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Sydney, N.S., will provide a special experience for Marie Christianson of Halifax.
“I’m pretty excited about the event overall,” said Christianson, who plays third stone for P.E.I.’s Suzanne Birt rink. “I’m from Nova Scotia, so it’s nice to be playing in my home province no matter who I am representing.”
Christianson, who is the import on Team Birt, said there is a lot of excitement leading up to Saturday’s opening day of the Canadian women’s curling championship.
“I know everyone battling it out in Nova Scotia this year wanted this one really bad, because it hasn’t been in Nova Scotia since 1992,” said Christianson. “It’s been a while and the fact it’s back here and you don’t know when it will be back, it’s a pretty exciting endeavour.
“P.E.I. is going to have a lot of Nova Scotia fans for sure this weekend.”
Birt noted that Christianson, who will be competing in her second Scotties, “is going to be like a hometown crowd favourite.” Despite having team members living in two different provinces, the Birt rink feels it was able to find a balance.
“We had a system worked out pretty well where I get over there as much as I can, and they were nice enough to come to me a couple of times,” said Christianson. “I met them at tournaments and did my own personal practice during the week and played out of the Halifax Curling Club.
“It’s a bigger commitment, but it seems to be working really well for us. It’s a matter of having everything scheduled out.”