Team Turpin off to Scotties as a group
Rink defeats clubmate Ward in Sunday’s provincial women’s curling final
The four members of the Kelli Turpin rink are going back to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian women’s curling championship.
But this time they’re doing it together.
Turpin and teammates Stephanie Guzzwell, Beth Hamilton and Carrie Vautour captured the Scotties provincial title Sunday afternoon, edging out Re/max Centre clubmate Cathlia Ward 5-4 in the championship final at Bally Haly Country Club in St. John’s.
Turpin, Guzzwell, Hamilton and Vautour have all been Newfoundland women’s champions before, but no two were part of the same championshipwinning team. And Turpin had never won as a skip; her three trips to the nationals came as a third for Heather Strong.
The Turpin and Ward teams earned their berths in Sunday’s game by finishing with the best records — 4-1 — in the preliminary round of the six-rink event.
In round-robin play, Turpin had prevailed easily, defeating
Ward 8-2. But it was much different in the rematch.
After the first three ends of the final were blanked, Turpin scored a single with last-rock advantage in the fourth and the teams remained tied or within one point of each other the rest of the way, with Turpin needing to score two points in the 10th and final end for the win.
The result means Turpin and her teammates will be wearing Newfoundland and Labrador’s colours at the Tournament of Hearts Feb. 16 to 24 in Sydney, N.S.
It also means that, for the first time since 2010, a team other than one skipped by either
Strong or Stacie (Devereaux) Curtis will be this province’s representative.
Strong is taking the year off and Curtis has moved to the United States.
Turpin and Ward were part of a six-team field at Bally Haly, with all the rinks out of the Re/ Max Centre (St. John’s Curling Club).
The Erica Trickett team, which included three members of the Curtis rink that took the provincial Scotties last year, finished at 3-2. Sarah Hill was 2-3, while Wendy Dunne and reigning provincial junior women’s champion Mackenzie Glynn were both 1-4.