If you look at her current Scotties Tournament of Hearts run from a technical point of view, Penny Barker has seen this kind of thing before.
Being in contention in a curling tournament? Game after game featuring close results? And a legitimate shot at the playoffs and beyond?
Nothing strange, nothing unusual.
Except for the stakes this time around.
Barker and her Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre rink of third Christie Gamble, second Jenna Enge and lead Danielle Sicinski find themselves with a 4-2 record heading into their final two round robin games Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon.
As a result, Barker is tied for the third and final playoff spot in Pool A with Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville and well in control of her own destiny the rest of the way.
“It’s feeling good, it was a nice solid game from the whole team this morning and it just seems like we’re finding more confidence and making a few more shots every game,” Barker said Wednesday afternoon from Thunder Bay. “We’re doing well headed into the last couple games of the round robin and have put ourselves in a good position to qualify for the playoffs.
So we just have to keep playing our game and keep the foot down and keep going.”
Barker built a 9-0 lead through four ends and went on to an 11-4 win over Nunavut’s Brigitte MacPhail (0-7) in the morning game Wednesday. That win came on heels of a 9-6 win over Prince Edward Island’s Suzanne Birt (3-4) on Tuesday afternoon, 6-4 loss to New Brunswick’s Andrea Crawford (5-1) Monday night and 8-7 extra-end win over Wild Card #2 Chelsea Carey (2-4) on Monday morning.
“Even in the games we lost, with a couple shots here and there we could be going the other way with it,” Barker said. “We’ve been playing close games and we need that, but it’s nice every now and again to have a game where you have to hold a lead. And even then, it never feels safe until a little later in the game, you can’t let up, have to keep playing aggressively and keep going.”
It’s a far different look for Team Barker compared to her previous showing at the Scotties in 2017, where they finished 1-10.
“It feels a lot better when you’ve got a few wins,” Barker said with a laugh. “We’ve worked hard to be here, we’ve practiced a lot and played in a lot of big games, so it feels really nice to really show that. We belong here, it’s showing now, it’s in our control and that’s really good.”
Things won’t get any easier going forward, especially with what’s at stake.
Barker faces McCarville in the evening draw on Wednesday and closes out the preliminary round against Wild Card #3 Emma Miskew (3-3) during the afternoon draw Thursday.
“We’re going to keep focussing on what we’ve been doing,” Barker said of the strategy heading in. “We know they’re going to make great shots so we have to be playing our ‘A’ game. As long as we keep playing well, that’ll give us a chance at it… it just curling at the end of the day, as long as you’re making shots that’s the most important thing and you can’t worry about the name on the scoreboard.”
One name Team Barker is happy to see in person again is that of coach Mark Lang, who rejoins the team after sitting through COVID-19 protocols this past week.
“It’s great to have him back,” Barker said. “He’s had to be in isolation for so long, watching our games by the linescores or on TV, but other than that he’s been cooped up in his hotel room.
“Now he’s back, just in time for us to be able to finish off the week strong… and now we can have an official team photo instead of just his face added in there,” she added with a laugh.
Amber Holland has filled in as both the team’s fifth and an extra set of eyes while Lang waited out the clock.
“She’s been great at filling in the role of fifth as well as coach, helping with the time-outs and rock watching and those kinds of things, on top of being ready to play at any time,” Barker said. “It’s having that extra set of eyes, the ‘hey, did you see the rock do that’, it’s really nice to have. So we’re happy to have the “whole contingent now and we’re ready to go the rest of the way,”
