After four consecutive appearances in the B.C. Scotties Tournament of Hearts - including a championship title and a berth in nationals in 2015 - a local women's curling team has dissolved and the former skip, Patti Knezevic, has some new playing partners.
This season, Knezevic is throwing third stones for a rink led by Victoria's Dailene Pewarchuk (nee Siverston). The 26-year-old Pewarchuk is a two-time Canadian junior medalist who was also a member of a 2012 B.C. team that finished second to Alberta at the national Scotties.
Knezevic and her Prince George Golf and Curling Club teammates of the past four years - third Kristen Pilote, second Jen Rusnell and lead Rhonda Camozzi - decided at the end of last season it was time to close the book on the relationship. Sisters Pilote and Rusnell (nee Fewster) were both pregnant and had babies a week apart in August, and Camozzi opted to bow out because of family commitments.
Pilote, raised in Prince George and now a Squamish resident, ultimately decided to join another team, the Sarah Wark foursome of Chilliwack.
Originally, Knezevic was tinkering with the idea of putting her shoes and broom away. But then her phone started ringing, each time with a different playing opportunity. Multiple teams asked about her interest in skipping and then came an offer from the Pewarchuk camp: would she consider playing third?
"This opportunity kind of got me all jazzed up about playing because I thought that I'd like to be in a supporting role and have a coach in place that I was familiar with so it's been pretty exciting," Knezevic said. "Dailene is a bit younger but has a substantial amount of experience."
The rink is coached by Cindy Tucker, whom Knezevic got to know when she was an alternate for Kesa Van Osch's Team B.C. at the 2014 nationals in Montreal. At those nationals, Knezevic saw plenty of game action because of a flu bug that stormed through the tournament. She even filled in at skip for Van Osch and led B.C. to wins against Ontario (7-3) and Yukon (8-7). Despite Knezevic's efforts, B.C. finished outside the playoff picture with a 6-5 record.
The Pewarchuk foursome also includes second Adina Tasaka and lead Rachelle Kallechy. Like Pewarchuk and Knezevic, Tasaka has tasted the Scotties at the national level. Her year was 2009 when B.C.'s Marla Mallett lost in the final to Team Canada's Jennifer Jones.
"There's some good experience," Knezevic said of the newly-formed rink. "It's just a matter of piecing it all together at the right time."
The team practiced for three weekends in Victoria prior to October and then competed at cashspiels in Kamloops, Edmonton and Abbotsford. After missing the playoffs in Kamloops, Pewarchuk and company qualified in the last two events.
"We're still building and working on it," Knezevic said.
Today through Sunday, the Pewarchuk team is in Vernon, which is hosting an open playoff that will send the top three finishers to the 2017 B.C. Scotties, Jan. 17-22 in Duncan. Another open playoff is set for Dec. 16-18 in Abbotsford, an event in which the final three provincial spots will be up for grabs.
Other teams on the ice in Vernon are skipped by Van Osch, Wark (who has Pilote as her third), Diane Gushulak, Kayte Gyles, Lindsay Hudyma, Amanda Russett and Kim Slattery.
"The goal is to qualify this weekend," said Knezevic, whose team will face the Russett rink, from Kamloops, at 2:30 p.m. today. "We would really like to have another training weekend before provincials so ideally we would like to qualify this weekend."
A win against Russett would mean a 7 p.m. game against either Van Osch or Wark in the second draw.
Defending B.C. champion Karla Thompson already has a spot in the upcoming provincials and so does a rink led by Mallett, which got in based on points accumulation in World Curling Tour events. Mallett's team features sisters Brette Richards and Blaine DeJager, who grew up in Prince George.
While Knezevic is thoroughly enjoying being part of Team Pewarchuk, she's still adjusting to being a third instead of a skip.
"There have been major changes for me with sweeping and positioning and taking on the supporting role versus calling the game - allowing Dailene to call the game," Knezevic said.
"In Kamloops it was challenging but it's gotten easier," she added with a laugh. "I felt like I was running around the rink like a little rat - like 'gee whiz, I've never played this game before' and I didn't know where to be."
Knezevic, whose curling career stretches back to childhood, can't recall the last time she played third on a regular basis.
"For years when I played with Tracey (Jones), she threw the skip stones and I threw third stones but I skipped the game, so that was a bit different too," she said.
