The disappointment for Robyn Silvernagle’s rink was plain to see after they missed out on clinching a spot in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
With some time to reflect on the whole experience, however, the North Battleford skip believes that the team’s runner-up result at this past week’s Viterra Scotties women’s provincial playdowns in Melville will be a building block for future success.
“We’re really happy with how we played,” Silvernagle said. “The way we preformed all week was the best that our team has played for sure.
“We learned so much over the week, especially when it came to strategy and how to control our emotions in certain situations. We’re going to take that forward and carry it towards next year.”
“We had a great tournament and you can’t ask for more than that as we go forward.”
Silvernagle, who is joined on her Twin Rivers Curling Club rink by third Dayna Demers, second Christian Goertzen and lead Kara Thevenot, were defeated by Penny Barker’s Moose Jaw foursome by a score of 10-7 in the final Sunday.
After giving up four points in the first three ends and trailing 5-2 at the fifth end break, Silvernagle clawed her way back to take a 7-6 lead going into the final end.
Their comeback bid ended in the 10th end as Barker made a takeout for four points to win her first provincial title and earn the chance to represent Saskatchewan at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in St. Catherines, Ont. later this month.
“We had our chances early on but they just didn’t work out,” Silvernagle said. “We knew we had to stay calm and we had the determination to get back into the game.
“It was a strong battle and we didn’t give up, which was great to see as there were times where we could have packed it in. We fought hard right until the end, but unfortunately we came up just a little bit short.”
Coming off a trip to the semifinal last year in Prince Albert, the Silvernagle rink finished first in the round-robin with a 7-1 record.
They earned a spot in the provincial final with a 9-7 extra-end win over Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton in the 1 vs. 2 Page playoff game Saturday.
“We got a couple of big wins early on and that really helped us to build some confidence,” Silvernagle said. “We were comfortable with the ice and with each other, and that definitely helped us get off to a good start.
“We played really well against Stefanie in our last round-robin game Friday, and we got off to an early lead against her in the playoff. I made a couple of mistakes to get her back in the game, but we stayed strong in the last two ends to get the win.”
The rink did return from Melville with some extra hardware as well, as Demers received the Marj Mitchell Award for sportsmanship and competitiveness.
“That was pretty awesome to have someone on our team win that award,” Silvernagle said.
While the foursome isn’t planning on competing in any more bonspiels before the end of the season, Silvernagle will be teaming up with Drew Heidt to compete in the mixed doubles provincials in Saskatoon in a couple of weeks.
“I haven’t played mixed doubles before so that might be a little interesting, but I figured, why not give it a try,” Silvernagle said.
“We had looked at trying to get into a couple of events as a team, but there isn’t really much until the fall besides a couple of Grand Slam of Curling events. There’s a possibility of getting a mixed team together as well, but will see how that goes with our schedules.”
