Kristi Frolek and her teammates are flying high at the moment.
Frolek, who skips the Twin Rivers Curling Club rink that includes third Nicole Beausoleil, second Christy Walker and lead Kristy Bird, captured the Travellers Curling Club Championship provincial title Monday in Estevan following a 6-4 win over Elaine Osmachenko of Moose Jaw.
“Nobody really slept on the drive back home as we were all pretty excited,” Frolek said.
“It’s a pretty surreal feeling to have the chance to represent your province and wear the green jacket at a national event, especially after curling for so many years together. Nicole, Christy and I have been teammates for six years and Kristy joined us a couple of years ago, and it’s been a fun rink to be a part of.”
Having made the semifinals at the provincials a couple of years ago, Frolek and her rink entered the event with some confidence after winning the annual ladies' bonspiel at their home club a week earlier.
However, they found themselves in a bit of trouble early on in Estevan as they lost their first two round-robin games.
“It might have been a case of nerves, but our start was pretty flat,” Frolek said.
“We had a tough time figuring out the ice in those first couple of games, but once we got a handle on everything we really came together as a team.”
After a 6-3 win over Saskatoon’s Rebecca Ryde in a tiebreaker game Monday morning and a 8-3 victory over Alexandra Williamson of Estevan in a semifinal later in the day, Frolek was in a tightly contested battle in the final before picking up a key two points in the seventh end.
“We just had to bide our time for a bit,” Frolek said. “Our strategy was to hold them to a single point when they had the hammer, which we did, but it took us a little while to get our two points.
“We didn’t have the hammer coming home in the eighth end and that was a little bit nerve-racking. We were preparing for an extra end, but Elaine’s last shot ended up rolling a little bit far and that gave us a point.”
Since the Travellers Curling Club Championship doesn’t take place until Nov. 20 to 25 in Kingston, Ont., Frolek and her teammates are planning to get an early start to their 2017-18 curling season.
“We’ve talked about looking for a summer bonspiel or taking part in some summer curling camps,” Frolek said.
“It’ll be important for us to get in shape pretty early in the season, especially since we’ll be travelling out of the province for the event.”
