When Prince George hosted the Canadian women's curling championship in 2000, Blaine de Jager had the chance to step onto the ice as a fan.
This weekend she'll be back at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts as a competitor.
De Jager and Amber Cheveldave will be representing Prince George at the event in Kingston, Ont., but neither will be wearing the colours of Team B.C. Instead they'll be suiting up for Alberta on a rink skipped by Kristie Moore of Grande Prairie.
De Jager remembers when the icemaker at the 2000 event let her and her sister step on the ice at the nationals and told them that maybe one day they'd be playing in Canada's most prestigious women's curling event.
"I've never forgotten that, now it's come true," de Jager said.
Although she always figured she'd be representing B.C. when she finally made it to the Scotties, playing for a neighbouring province hasn't taken away any of the excitement.
"It's something I've dreamed about since I was 10 years old," she said. "In some ways I thought I would get there and in some ways I never thought I would either. There are so many good curlers out there who never get to a Scotties - I just feel very lucky."
Curling rinks are often built from the skip on down, but this foursome was constructed from the lead on up. Last February, Cheveldave and Michelle Dykstra played together in a funspiel and enjoyed themselves so much started tossing around the idea of forming a team in Cheveldave's new hometown of Grande Prairie.
Cheveldave's first call was to de Jager, as the two had played together since their junior days in Prince George. Now living in Chetwynd, de Jager hadn't been keen to make the drive through the Pine Pass to play at home, so she jumped at the chance to head east.
With Cheveldave set at lead, Dykstra at second and de Jager at third, the team still needed a skip The three caught a break when Moore was looking for a new crew after giving birth to twins in the summer.
"It was kind of luck," Cheveldave said of everything falling into place for the new team. "We all really wanted to play again and we wanted to put a team together that would get along and just have fun."
The group played a half-dozen or so cashspiels in the lead up to the Alberta provincials with mixed success. After dropping their first two games at provincials in Lethbridge, the rink won three straight to get into the championship round. Three more wins later, capped with an 8-7 victory over Renee Sonnenberg also of Grande Prairie, and the group were provincial champions.
"It's kind of surreal," said Cheveldave. "You go from being just another curler to someone who's actually made it."
Moore won the Canadian and world junior title as a second with Heather Nedohin in 1996. The pair also won the Alberta crown in 2000, competing at the nationals in Prince George. She was also the fifth for Cheryl Bernard at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, winning silver.
"Everybody knows who Kristie is, but no one really knows who the rest of us are," de Jager said, noting the team will be relying on their skip and fifth Sonnenberg to help keep the nerves in check in the big event.
The team is flying to Kingston on Thursday and open the competition on Saturday. Coincidentally their first game will be against Team B.C.'s Kelly Scott of Kelowna, a two-time Scotties champion
With the likes of Scott, Nedohin and Manitoba's Jennifer Jones all in the field, the Moore rink heads into the event as underdogs - just like they were in the Alberta Scotties.
Cheveldave said the first step is to get into a playoff position and then try to repeat the run they made in Lethbridge.
"I think it's a matter of getting comfortable with the ice and for us it's a confidence thing," she said. "If we can get a couple of wins under out belt I think we'll be OK and probably surprise a lot of people."
