Jen Rusnell is counting on familiarity to bring success to her Prince George women's curling foursome at the Scotties BC Women's Curling Championship presented by Best Western.
"It's certainly a comfortable spot to be in," said Rusnell, formerly Fewster, about heading to the North Shore Winter Club in Vancouver with a team that's curled together for the past three years. "You skip all that getting to know each other stuff, which is kind of a little bit of a hurdle."
It's the third trip to the provincial championship for the Rusnell rink. Rusnell, 27, skips, but throws third rocks, while younger sister Kristen Fewster, 25, throws last rocks. Second Blaine Richards, 30, and lead Amber Cheveldave, 30, complete the team coached by Rick Fewster.
The Rusnell foursome will be just one of two rinks representing the Prince George Curling Club at the championship as Brenda Garvey team with third Patti Knezevic, second Chelan Cotter and lead Rhonda Camozzi will also compete in the 10-team event.
For the Rusnell team it's all about getting back to the playoffs, which they qualified for in 2010 but failed to do last year, finishing in the middle of the pack.
"We still played very strong and it's certainly always good to build off of a year like that," said Rusnell about last year. "I think this year we've really put the time in and really made an effort to put a stronger foot forward at provincials this year. I think we're ready."
Rusnell's team has competed at several World Curling Tour and Peace Curling Tour events this season, having won some money in cash spiels and put up a relatively decent record against the teams they'll face in Vancouver from Jan. 23 to 29.
In 2010 Rusnell finished third after the round-robin play but lost in the 3-4 page-playoff game.
The ladies biggest challenge this season was clearing their schedules to get together to play since Kristen Fewster is living in Squamish and has to commute.
"Our last event was the beginning of December for play downs," said Rusnell. "That was kind of why we did this weekend we wanted to get together and get some competitive games in."
The women spent last weekend playing three practice games against the men's provincial zone team at the P.G. Curling Club.
"The ladies field is very strong in B.C. so playing the guys here is just a good way to bring up the intensity when we go to provincials," said Rusnell.
For coach Fewster it's a breeze helping out a team that knows each other strengths and weaknesses.
"They're just fantastic people to coach," said Fewster, dad to Jen and Kristen. "They get along so great together as far as they can express themselves to each other without getting mad, which makes it a lot easier for me."
Fewster said he's looking forward to getting down to Vancouver with the team.
"They're playing stronger than ever and we're looking forward to going down there and seeing how we do," he said.
