One hometown team has qualified, the other is still seeking a berth in the 2014 B.C. Scotties Tournament of Hearts women's provincial curling championship.
When the B.C. Scotties hits the ice Jan. 6-12 at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club, the Patti Knezevic foursome will be in the mix. Knezevic and rinkmates Jen Rusnell, Kristen Fewster and Rhonda Camozzi locked up a spot in provincials based on their position on the Canadian Team Ranking System list. Back in September, they won the Cloverdale Cash Spiel and, on Nov. 11, they wrapped up a third-place finish at the Coronation Business Group Ladies Classic in Maple Ridge. Those combined results gave Knezevic and her teammates the second of two CTRS berths in the B.C. Scotties. The other CTRS berth went to the Allison MacInnes rink of Abbotsford.
Curl B.C. made the official announcement on Friday.
As a first-year team last season, the Knezevic crew played in the championship game of the B.C. Scotties but fell 9-6 to Kelowna's Kelly Scott. Knezevic is excited about the possibility of taking one last step and winning the provincial title on home ice.
"We were very close last year," she said.
"All of us truly understand what it takes to get to that point so now it's just a matter of piecing it together -- like any other cash spiel, really -- one game at a time. It is exciting that it's at home and for sure I would love to have the opportunity to play in the final game. It's going to take some work but absolutely that's what we're shooting for."
At the Coronation Business Group Ladies Classic, Nanaimo's Nicole Backe filled in for Rusnell because Rusnell gave birth to a baby boy -- Connor -- right before the tournament. Backe, normally a skip, has loads of experience at the provincial level and was approached earlier this season by Knezevic about taking Rusnell's spot at the Maple Ridge event.
A total of 10 teams will compete in the B.C. Scotties, which will be in Prince George for the first time. As the four-time defending champion, Scott will join Knezevic and MacInnes at the tournament.
Two more berths were awarded Sunday in Lake Cowichan and they went to Sarah Wark and Kesa Van Osch, both of Victoria. At the six-team open playdown, a Prince George rink skipped by Tracey Jones and featuring Falon Burkitt at third, Kay-Lynn Thompson at second and Melinda Kotsch at lead played to a 1-3 record and fell short of qualifying for the B.C. Scotties. Jones and company started with an 11-10, extra-end loss to Victoria's Shawna Jensen on Saturday morning and then fell 8-2 to Jody Maskiewich of New Westminster in the afternoon draw. Saturday night, Jones thumped Roberta Kuhn of Vernon 11-0 in six ends but lost 10-5 to Maskiewich on Sunday morning.
The final five berths to the B.C. Scotties will be handed out at open playdowns in Kelowna (Nov. 30 to Dec. 2) and Maple Ridge (Dec. 13-15).
Full-event passes for the B.C. Scotties are now available and can be reserved by phone (250-563-0357, local 100). Or, people can have their passes set aside by visiting the PGGCC, located at 2833 Recreation Place. The cost is $50.
Single-game tickets will go on sale in December.
"This is not just exciting for us [as players], it's really exciting for the people in Prince George and for our sponsors that have supported us through all these years," said Knezevic, whose team's main backers include Redwood Plastics, Curtis Elite Security and Auto Magic.
The B.C. Scotties, presented by Best Western, will send one team to the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Feb. 1-9 in Montreal.
