Lawton rolls on without Singler
Ankle injury sidelines Sask. second
MOOSE JAW — It’s heartbreak for Sherri Singler at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Singler, who plays second with Saskatchewan’s Stefanie Lawton, withdrew from the Canadian women’s curling championship Friday due to a severely sprained right ankle. Singler sustained the injury on Feb. 6 while slipping on a patch of ice near her home. She underwent extensive rehabilitation in the week leading up to the Scotties. On Thursday night, it was decided that she wouldn’t be able to curl.
“I am pretty much heartbroken,” Singler said Friday from her Saskatoon home. “I’m obviously upset that it happened. Now I have to focus on getting it better and trying to support my team in any way that I can.”
Stephanie Schmidt moves from alternate to second with Lawton’s team. Regina’s Lana Vey has been added as the alternate. The remainder of the roster is the same with Lawton at skip, Sherry Anderson at third and Marliese Kasner playing lead.
“It’s very unfortunate that it happened,” Lawton said. “We wish her a speedy recovery. We’re going to carry on and do her proud as well.”
Lawton’s team has become accustomed to roster moves. Lawton missed the cash season after giving birth to her son Eric on Oct. 10. Anderson moved to skip with Lawton on the sidelines with Singler playing third, Schmidt playing second and Kasner at lead.
Lawton returned for the provincial championship and led the team to a 6-3 win over Regina’s Michelle Englot in the final. The provincial championship was Lawton’s first game action since the birth of her son. That experience should help the team at the Scotties.
“This year has been challenging with the shuffling of the lineup,” Singler said. “It’s not ideal, but it’s something that we’ve had to deal with before.”
Singler hopes to return if Lawton’s team wins the Canadian championship and advances to the world championship. That’s still a long way off for Singler, who is still adjusting to missing the Scotties.
“It’s the position that you wanted to put yourself into,” said Singler, who shared in Saskatchewan women’s championships with Lawton in 2005, 2009, 2014 and 2015. “Then it’s gone in the blink of an eye. It’s just gone.”
Schmidt would have preferred to remain as alternate and have Singler playing.
“It’s extremely unfortunate for us and for Sherri,” Schmidt said. “She’s a really huge part of this team and my job is to play my best like she’s here. It’s really easy to play with the girls because I played with them on tour all year. I know them and we know each other. We know how we throw and what we need. It will be an easy transition, but we will miss Sherri.”
Vey, a three-time Saskatchewan women’s champion, is expected to be a good fit. She was a third in 2007 with Jan Betker’s provincial-championship squad and played the same position when Michelle Englot won the 2012 provincial title. Vey played lead with Lawton’s 2009 provincial-championship team, which featured Kasner at third and Singler throwing second.
“Lana has a lot of experience because she has been to the Scotties and she has done very well,” Schmidt said. “She also brings a lighthearted attitude.”
The roster change is one of the challenges facing Lawton early in the Scotties because two of her first three games are against two of the strongest teams in the field. Lawton plays B.C.’s Patti Knezevic in today’s afternoon draw. Lawton faces Team Canada’s Rachel Homan this evening and Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones in Sunday’s evening draw. Homan is the two-time defending champion and Jones won gold in women’s curling at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Lawton didn’t sound too stressed about the challenging games.
“It’s going to be tough, but we might as get into it and get going,” Lawton said.