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 In a wild final at the Sentinel Storage Alberta Scotties, Calgary's Kayla Skrlik (Photo: Team Skrlik) took two in the tenth end for a 9-8 win to send her team to the national championship. By: Cameron Sallaj Following the conclusion of round robin play Saturday morning at the Wetaskiwin Civic Centre Twin Arena in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, only three teams were left standing and in contention at the 2023 Sentinel Storage Alberta Scotties. Kayla Skrlik and her team out of the Garrison Curling Club in Calgary were the class of the field all week long, posting a perfect 7-0 record to claim a direct bye to the final. Closely following behind were Lethbridge's Casey Scheidegger at 6-1 and Calgary's Selena Sturmay at 5-2. They both earned spots in the playoff round as well, while the rest of the field was eliminated. In Saturday night's semifinal, experience prevailed for the Lethbridge rink consisting of Casey Scheidegger, Kate Hogan, Jessie Haughian, and Taylor McDonald as they took five in the eighth end to secure a dominant 11-3 win over the Sturmay rink and qualify for Sunday's final. There, they would meet Team Skrlik whom they lost to 9-3 in round robin play. Team Skrlik, with Kayla Skrlik, Brittany Tran, Geri-Lynn Ramsay, Ashton Skrlik, and Crystal Webster began the final with the hammer thanks to their undefeated record and took one in the opening end. Team Scheidegger then responded with one of their own to level the score. The Calgary rink got the first multiple point end of the game with a score of two in the third end. Facing one on her last rock, Kayla Skrlik called and made an angle runback to pick up the multiple score. Their lead didn't last for long, however, as in the fourth end it was Casey Scheidegger who made a precise soft weight tap around the center guard to count three for her team and give their first lead of the game, 4-3 through four. In the fifth, Kayla Skrlik retook the lead for her Calgary squad with a nose hit to count two points. Halfway through the game, it was Team Skrlik who held the 5-4 advantage. To begin the second half, Casey Scheidegger made an open draw to the eight-foot circle to pick up two and once again put her team back in the lead 6-5. After a blank in seven, Kayla Skrlik manufactured a skips deuce in the eighth thanks to a perfect freeze on her first stone that Team Scheidegger couldn't remove. This put the Calgary side up 7-6 with only two ends left to be played. Facing three and with the game on the line, Kayla Skrlik kept her team alive with another perfect freeze that limited Team Scheidegger to only a deuce in the ninth end. Coming home, the Lethbridge squad led 8-7, but hammer belonged to Calgary's Skrlik rink. Sitting one, Casey Scheidegger drew her final rock of the game behind the center guard, attempting to force Kayla Skrlik to a precise draw to pick up a single. While her rock was mostly barried, a tiny piece could be seen on the outside. Putting the game on the line, Kayla Skrlik called the thin double takeout that, if made, would give her team the victory. With Brittany Tran sweeping the rock for curl the whole way down the sheet, Skrlik caught just enough of the shot stone to redirect onto Scheidegger's second shot and push both rocks out of the rings, giving her team two points and their first Alberta Scotties provincial title. About the win, Skrlik said "very very excited to be provincial champions - what dreams are made of. We were obviously still an underdog (for the final), but we felt good going in." Experience was a definite advantage for the Scheidegger rink heading into the final game. Casey and sister Jessie Haughian were both provincial champions in 2018 with third Kate Hogan and lead Taylor McDonald winning back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2022 as members of the Laura Walker rink. "Casey has a good shot at a wild-card spot, so we really needed to win that game to get into the Scotties, so we had quite a bit on the line" said Skrlik post-game. "We knew Casey was going to come out firing, because we had beat her in the round robin and a couple of times in bonspiel play, so we knew she would come out and give us her best game. But we were ready for that." This will be the first national women's championship for both Skrlik and her sister Ashton. Third Brittany Tran made two Hearts appearances in 2019 and 2021 with the Kerry Galusha and Beth Peterson rinks respectively while second Geri-Lynn Ramsay skipped Prince Edward Island to a silver medal in her sole Hearts appearances in 2010. The teams alternate, Crystal Webster, played in two Scotties as well in 2011 as alternate for Shannon Kleibrink (Alberta) and in 2018 as third for Tracy Fleury (Northern Ontario). Kleibrink also joins Team Skrlik as their coach. The 2023 national championship will be held from February 17 to 26 at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops, British Columbia. There will be eighteen teams in the field all competing for the national title. The winners will represent Canada at the 2023 World Women's Curling Championship at the Goransson Arena in Sanviken, Sweden from March 18 to 26. Team Skrlik finished 7-0 through the eight-team qualifying round of the 2023 Sentinel Storage Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts. In their opening game, they won 6-4 over Team Gracelyn Richards (Edmonton, AB) and then beat Team Lisa Parent (Calgary, AB) 8-5. They then scored two dominant victories over pre-tournament favorites Team Kelsey Rocque (Edmonton, AB) 10-2 and Team Casey Scheidegger (Lethbridge, AB) 9-3. To close out the round robin, they won 8-4 over Team Kellie Stiksma (Edmonton, AB), 11-4 over Team Jessie Hunkin (Spruce Grove, AB) and 7-6 over Team Selena Sturmay (Edmonton, AB). Watch the replay of the Alberta Scotties final between Skrlik and Scheidegger: |
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Brendan Bottcher (photo: Stan Fong) is moving on from now former teammates Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert, announced Tuesday.
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