Two of Saskatchewan’s best female curlers are heading back to the provincial championship with new teammates alongside them.
Amber Holland and Sherry Anderson topped eight other rinks at the Twin Rivers Curling Club over the weekend as they competed at the Viterra Challenge Bonspiel for a pair of spots at next month’s playdowns.
“It was a good weekend for us,” Holland said. “We didn’t play perfectly, but we made our shots when it counted and it was nice to put together three wins in a row.”
“Other than our ‘A’ qualifier game against Amber Saturday night, I thought we all played really well,” Anderson added. “I missed a number of draws in that game, but I got my weight down today [Sunday] and I’m really happy with how all of us played in our final two games.”
Holland, who curls out of the Callie Curling Club in Regina with third Sherri Singler, second Laura Strong and lead Deb Lozinski, won all three of her games in North Battleford and clinched a provincial spot with a 9-3 win over Anderson in the ‘A’ final Saturday night.
“I felt like we were in control of the game right from the get-go,” Holland said. “We got a couple of deuces early on, which was really important, but Sherry has a good team over there and they really put the pressure on us in the middle part of the game.
“As a whole, we played solidly as a team and we were able to get a couple of steals late to pull ahead.”
The 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion last took part in the provincials in 2014 as she has spent the last three years away from the competitive curling scene.
“I decided to get back into it this year and Deb was someone I had curled with and subbed for in the past, so when I asked her if she was interested she said ‘potentially,’” Holland joked.
“Laura had been asking about playing with me since she moved from Newfoundland, so that was a good fit. We weren’t really sure about who we’d have at third, but once we found out that Sherri wasn’t with the [Stefanie] Lawton rink this year that ended up being the missing piece for us. She’s someone I love dearly and she hadn’t played third before, so she wanted to give it a try.”
After her loss to Holland Saturday, Anderson bounced back with a pair of wins Sunday as she picked up a 6-4 victory over Shalon Fleming and then topped Candace Chisholm in a 5-4 extra-end thriller.
“There wasn’t a lot of scoring in the first five ends, but after we hogged a rock in the sixth end, it seemed like there were a ton of rocks in play after that,” Anderson said.
“Candace made a great hit in the ninth end to get two points and she made two really good shots in the tenth that forced me to draw to a piece of the button just to force an extra. At that point we were looking to steal a point to get the win, but Candace almost made a double on her last and we were fortunate to have our stone stick around at the back of the house.”
Anderson, who has made seven trips to the Scotties and was the runner-up in 2002, is joined by third Kourtney Fesser, second Krista Fesser and lead Karlee Korchinski on her rink out of the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon.
“I curled with Krista last year, but it’s the first year together as a team for all of us,” Anderson said. “We didn’t have a great year on the cashspiel circuit, but I really like how we’re all throwing right now and we’ve hopefully have some momentum for next month.”
Anderson and Holland have joined five other rinks that have already qualified for the Viterra Scotties provincial championship, which will take place from Jan. 2 to 7 in Melfort.
Already locked into the event are defending champion Penny Barker of Moose Jaw, Robyn Silvernagle of North Battleford, Nancy Martin of Saskatoon and Regina rinks skipped by Chantelle Eberle and Ashley Howard.
The final two spots in the nine-team event will be determined at a last chance qualifier in Estevan that will be held from Dec. 15 to 17.
