The veteran local skip was coming off a wildly successful showing on the Oct. 30 weekend when she joined third Candace Newkirk, second Malysha Johnstone and lead Sheri Logan to win the Traveller’s Women’s Club Championship in North Battleford, and a bit of time away from competition was the plan.
But when provincial curling legend Sherry Anderson was forced to pull out of the Sask Women’s Curling Tour stop at Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre, Robson got the last-second call. And there she was on Saturday afternoon with her makeshift foursome of Roberta Fonger, Haley Spencer and Amber Montgomery, battling the likes of Penny Barker as Chelsea Carey, Robyn Silvernagle and Michelle Englot took the ice on sheets around her.
Robson finished her round robin with a 1-2 record and was potentially in position for playoff spot Saturday night if things worked her way.
“It’s good to be out here, and with them sharpening the rocks for more curl, that helps us for Ottawa as well because they’re to have a really good facility and a lot of curl, so it’s good to get some experience with this,” Robson said shortly after her contest with Barker. “It’s also really good for working with strategy, the field is really strong this weekend and there are a lot of good teams, which is great to be a part of.”
Robson ended up in a back-and-forth battle with Prince Albert’s Robyn Despins throughout the club tournament, which is geared towards players who play at the community level and has special eligibility rules surrounding elite travelling players.
The first meeting between the two saw Despins win the ‘A’ final 8-5, but Robson rebounded with two wins on the ‘B” side to advance to the playoffs. There, the local foursome defeated Despins 9-1 in the semifinal and followed with an 8-7 win in the title game, stealing in an extra end to do it. Overall, Robson finished with a 6-1 record.
“We had no idea what to expect because we’ve barely the last two years with COVID. So we thought it was either going to be really good or really bad and we’d be going to the casino if it went really bad,” Robson deadpanned. “We struggled in the ‘A’ qualifier, and we just had an off game. We wanted to come back and play strong and were able to pull through.”
The club title is the second for Robson in the last three years, as the same foursome won the title in 2018. In fact, Moose Jaw has won three times in the 12 years the event has existed, including 2015 (skipped by Newkirk) and in 2011 (Patricia Yeske).
Having that experience is something Robson hopes will be an advantage.
“It’ll be a little more relaxed since we know what to expect with the draw and all the social expectations, too, with all the things that are going on,” Robson said. “So we’re a little more prepared and aware of what we’re going into.”
The Everest Curling National Club Championships run from Nov. 28 to Dec. 4 in Ottawa.
