They are Prince George's version of the Dream Team.
And if everything goes right for skip Patti Knezevic and her rinkmates at the B.C. Scotties Tournament of Hearts women's provincial curling championship, they could be the cause of some night terrors among their opponents.
The 10-team bonspiel, a qualifier for the national Scotties Feb. 16-24 in Kingston, Ont., starts on Monday at the Cloverdale Curling Club. With an eye toward winning the provincial title and representing B.C. at nationals, Knezevic and Rhonda Camozzi joined forces with Kristen Fewster and Jen Rusnell (nee Fewster) this season.
Knezevic has years of experience at the provincial championship, while Fewster and Rusnell -- though younger -- have been regulars at the event in recent seasons.
Together, the four women have the potential to claim the prize that has eluded all of them to date.
"Our team has been knocking on the door the last couple years -- getting into playoffs and tiebreakers and those sorts of things -- and one of the advantages I see this year is having Patti and Rhonda's experience," said the 28-year-old Rusnell. "They bring kind of a calmness and easiness. You really can't say enough about experience."
Knezevic used to play with Tracey Jones, Kay-Lynn Thompson and Melinda Kotsch and twice advanced to the provincial final, only to lose. In 2005, the Knezevic rink fell in an extra end to Kelly Scott. Then, in 2007, the team got steamrolled by Kelley Law in the championship game. For the last couple of years, Knezevic and Camozzi paired up with Kamloops residents Brenda Garvey and Chelan Cotter and had mixed results at the B.C. Scotties.
Up until this season, Rusnell was the skip of a rink that included Fewster at third, Blaine Richards at second and Amber Cheveldave at lead. That foursome had its best showing at the B.C. Scotties in 2010 when it went 6-3 in the round robin and then lost to veteran Marla Mallett in the playoffs. After a disappointing showing in 2011, the P.G. rink finished in a four-way tie for fourth place last year and went 1-1 in the ensuing tiebreakers to fall just short of the playoff round.
This season, with Camozzi at lead, Rusnell at second and Fewster at third, the Knezevic crew advanced to the B.C. Scotties at the very first qualifier, held in Vernon in November. Since then, the foursome has been fine-tuning its game and is now ready to take aim at the B.C. Scotties crown.
"Jen and I, the last few years we've had pretty good success," said Fewster, 26. "It's just a matter of taking that extra step and winning the playoff games. We've been happy but we'd really like to win, and Patti has that experience of being in the finals. We're really excited to have that experience behind us."
One unusual thing about the rink is that when Knezevic is throwing her final rocks, Fewster isn't the one holding the broom in the far house. That job belongs to Rusnell, the former skip. So far, the strategy has worked well.
If there's a favourite at the B.C. Scotties, it has to be Kelowna's Scott, who has been the winning skip three years in a row. After topping the province last year, she and her mates made it all the way to the national championship game, where they lost 7-6 to Heather Nedohin of Alberta.
"[Scott] is always strong," Rusnell said. "Not to say that she's not beatable, it's just a matter of putting things together at the right time and going out there with your best game."
The other rinks at provincials will be skipped by Lori Olsen (New Westminster), Kirsten Fox (New Westminster), Simone Brosseau (Victoria), Simone Groundwater (Williams Lake), Roberta Kuhn (Vernon), Allison MacInnes (Abbotsford), Mallett (Cloverdale) and Marilou Richter (New Westminster).
The first two games for Team Knezevic are Monday against Olsen and Fox. The P.G. rink will clash with Scott on Thursday morning.
The top four teams will qualify for the playoffs.
Falon Burkitt is Knezevic's fifth player and Rick Fewster is the coach.
n The 2014 B.C. Scotties Tournament of Hearts will be held in Prince George.
