Prince George won't just have two connections to the provincial Scotties championship, the women's curling tournament that determines the B.C. rep for the national championship.
The city will have two teams considered strong contenders.
Patti Knezevic booked her trip to provincials on the weekend by winning the B side of the playdowns in Williams Lake, the second set of interior playdowns. The Kamloops rink skipped by Karla Thompson took the A event.
Jen Fewster's Prince George rink will also be at the provincial Scotties, which takes place Jan. 17-23 in Cloverdale. Fewster advanced at the first playdown opportunity, in early December in Summerland, and didn't have to compete in Williams Lake.
"For years, I've been telling people, friends and relatives, that we really do have a lot of good curling teams here, and I'm not always sure they believe me," said Knezevic.
Knezevic's rink includes third Brenda Garvey of Kamloops, second Chelan Cotter of Kamloops and lead Rhonda Camozzi of Prince George.
To get the B side berth on the weekend, Knezevic opened by defeating the Prince George rink skipped by Tracey Jones 8-3, lost 5-4 to Thompson, then met Jones again for the final slot and stole two in the 10th end to post a 6-5 victory and advance.
The provincial tournament has been expanded for the first time, with Curling B.C. adding two teams to get to a total of 10. To get to that point, additional playdowns were arranged and the roster of teams will include the previous year's champion, in this case Kelly Scott of Kelowna. Also added was the leading point-getter in the Canadian Team Ranking System, and this year that's Kelley Law, who people in Prince George will remember as the winner of the 2000 Scott Tournament of Hearts when it was contested at the Multiplex.
Knezevic has every intention on taking the step that eluded her in 2007 when she lost to Law in the 2007 B.C. final.
"It's been a good journey, and we're hungry," she said.
"For every single year for the last five years, we've been fighting for that one spot. We now have four chances to get to provincials, and I look at it as a great thing. Teams from B.C. go on to the (nationals) and they represent the province well all the time, so I think it's a good change by Curling B.C."
The provincial Scotties will be a round-robin format with a page playoff to determine the champion.
Members of the Jones rink, which also plays out of the Prince George Golf and Curling Club, include Laurie McIntosh, Kay Thompson and Melinda Kotsch. Eleven teams took part in the first interior playdowns, while just five were in Williams Lake last weekend.
The Fewster rink, which was the youngest foursome at last year's event, includes younger sister Kristen Fewster at third, Blaine Richards at second and Amber Cheveldave as the lead.
At last year's Scotties, Fewster finished third out of 10 teams in the round robin with a 6-3 mark, losing 7-3 in the playoffs to defending champion Marla Mallett.
