The competition will be tough - even world-class, in fact.
Nonetheless, Alyssa Connell and her teammates will have lofty expectations of themselves when they step onto the ice for the Tim Hortons junior women's curling championship. The eight-team tournament runs from Dec. 29 to Jan. 3 in Kamloops.
"They've set their goals very high," said coach Rick Fewster. "They want to finish in the top three. I'm hoping that we can finish in the top half. Top half would be good - top half gives us a playoff spot."
The Connell rink, from the Prince George Golf and Curling Club, will be the northern representative at provincials. Other members of the team are third Bailey Eberherr, second Jordan Henson and lead Erin Ross.
Connell and company are in their second season together. Last year, they played in two provincial championships - in the juvenile and junior age groups - and had mixed results.
Now, with those experiences behind them, they will be in a better position for a strong showing this time around. However, they'll also have to figure out how to compete against a couple of truly elite-level teams, ones skipped by Corryn Brown and Sarah Daniels.
Brown is from Kamloops and will have home-ice advantage. More significantly, she and her rinkmates were the 2013 Canadian champions and attended worlds in Sochi, Russia.
The Daniels foursome, which plays out of the Royal City Curling Club in New Westminster, is also highly regarded. At last year's Canada Winter Games in Prince George, Daniels skipped Team B.C., a rink that included her current second, Dezaray Hawes. At last year's provincials, Daniels was the runner-up to Brown.
Connell's opening game is Dec. 29 against Shawna Jensen's Vancouver Island team. Connell will face Daniels the next afternoon and Vernon's Winter Harvey that night.
On Dec. 31, the P.G. crew will play Sarah Loken of Delta and will then clash with Brown in the evening draw. On Jan. 1, Connell and her mates will play their last two round-robin games, against Mariah Coulombe of Victoria and Alysha Buchy of Kimberley.
Playoff games are scheduled for Jan. 2-3.
The winning rink will move on to nationals, Jan. 23-31 in Stratford, Ont.
Fewster said the biggest strengths of the Connell rink are team chemistry and overall ability.
"There's a lot of skill on the team, at all levels," he said.
"And they're all eager to learn and to try new things. They're a great group to work with."
The 17-year-old Connell is described by Fewster as the true team leader.
"She pushes everybody to do their best," he said. "And she pushes herself very hard to do her best. Sometimes I try to slow that down, because it is just a game."
Eberherr is also 17, while Henson and Ross are 16 and 15 respectively.
