For Team Saskatchewan on Saturday night, though, it was anything but.
No, Robyn Silvernagle and her North Battleford crew of third Stefanie Lawton, second Jessie Hunkin and lead Kara Thevenot, alternate Stephanie Schmidt and coach Lesley McEwen hung around signing autographs, posing for pictures and just generally milling about the Mosaic Place boards interacting with fans.
It was a good half hour before they made their way into the bowels of the arena for media interviews after their 7-6 win over B.C.’s Corryn Brown, and when they did so, it was with huge smiles and a sense of utter accomplishment from the week that was.
“Oh, 100 percent,” said Silvernagle. “I think every Scotties experience is something you’ll never forget and getting to play here in Moose Jaw was unbelievable, the crowd was amazing and we had a lot of fun.”
It certainly didn’t hurt that they pulled off a win in their last game, and had a Silvernagle draw to the four-foot to the roar of the crowd with her final shot to do it.
“We’d come to terms with the fact we’re not in the playoffs, but we played a great game tonight and that’s how we wanted to end this week, leaving on a high note,” Lawton said.
Hunkin and Thevenot both played through the entire week while pregnant – Hunkin is due in July, Thevenot a month later – and as a front end, had plenty of hard work in the process. That included their three-game day on Thursday that saw the squad play through a tiebreaker and two championship pool games.
“I’m feeling pretty good, I’m looking forward to a few days rest, for sure even though it would be nice to still be playing,” Hunkin said.
“We made sure to get as much rest as we could, even though it was pretty tough some of the days,” Thevenot added.
It wasn’t long until the conversations turned to specifically playing in the Scotties in their home province and Moose Jaw.
Hunkin pointed to the whole thing as something the players will carry with them forever.
“Oh absolutely, I think this will go down as one of our favourite weeks for sure, it’s been so much fun,” she said. “I think it’s the hospitality of everybody. The volunteers are fantastic, everybody in the town is fantastic, everywhere we go everyone is friendly and everybody is really supportive of the event and that goes a long way when you’re hosting it.”
The event marked the second time Lawton had played in the Scotties in Moose Jaw, the last naturally being in 2015 on Sherry Anderson’s rink. Her experiences in both were much the same.
“Playing at home is pretty incredible, playing in front of this crowd and having this support here, playing in front of family and friends with so many of them here, it’s just incredible to have that, Lawton said.
Then there’s the city itself.
“It’s just everything,” Lawton said. “This building is phenomenal and everything is so well organized. And the town is so supportive of having Canada here, you look at Main Street and every single window is decorated with Scotties symbols and they’re very welcoming. . . It was incredible, obviously Moose Jaw does a fantastic job here, the volunteers are all incredible and it’s definitely exceeded our expectations.”
For Thevenot, the whole experience was summed up in one word.
Amazing.
“You get to have all those supporters and you don’t know if you’re ever going to get to the Scotties,” she said. “So to be at home, it was fun to be a part of everything and take in everything and just enjoy it with everybody and take it all in. Great memories.”
