A fast start to the season has Moose Jaw’s Skylar Ackerman in an enviable position heading into the Moose Jaw stop on the Sask Women’s Curling Tour this weekend.
Ackerman and her rink of third Kya Kennedy, second Taylor Stremick and lead Kaylin Skinner will take the ice at the Moose Jaw Curling Centre as the top-seeded team on the Sask Curling Team Ranking System (Sask CTRS) after putting together a host of solid showings through the first events of the 2022-23 campaign.
Ackerman reached the championship final of the Saskatoon Nutana SWCT stop during the Sept. 24 weekend, made it to the semifinal of Sask Series Swift Current tournament on Oct. 10, and reached the C Final of the RBC Dominion Securities Western Showdown during the Oct. 13 weekend.
Her 39.25 points on the Sask CTRS are good enough for a six-point lead over Saskatoon’s Nancy Martin for top spot in the standings.
Ackerman finds herself in a round robin pool with four teams based out of Regina in Brooklyn Stevenson (seeded fifth), Jana Tisdale (eighth), Chelsea Emberley (11th) and Cindy Ricci (14th).
Ricci hails from Moose Jaw and won the provincial Scotties out of the Hillcrest Sports Centre as Cindy Street back in 1999. Ricci was also back in Moose Jaw at the beginning of the month as an inductee into the Moose Jaw and District Sports Hall of Fame as a member of the Amber Holland junior rink from the early 1990s.
Reigning Viterra Scotties provincial champion Penny Barker and her rink of third Christie Gamble, second Jenna Enge and lead Danielle Sicinski are the top seeds in the tournament and are currently fourth overall on the Sask CTRS.
Their top showing in the province this season came during the Western Showdown, where Barker qualified through the C side before falling in the quarter-finals.
Barker’s round robin pool includes Delisle’s Sherry Anderson (sixth), Regina’s Stephanie Thompson (seventh), Sherilee Orsted (12th) and Alyssa Resch (13th).
Orsted includes Moose Jaw’s Candace Newkirk playing third.
The other preliminary round pool includes Moose Jaw’s Elaine Robson as the 15th seed, with her rink of third Sandi Gray, second Haley Spenser and lead Sheri Logan joined by Regina’s Jessica Mitchell (third), Biggar’s Brett Barber (fourth), Regina’s Callan Hamon (ninth), Balgonie’s Mandy Selzer (10th).
The tournament will offer teams another chance to continue to earn points on the SWCT, with the top four teams as of Dec. 19 earning automatic berths into the 2023 Viterra Scotties Jan 25-29 in Estevan.
Ackerman kicks off her Moose Jaw SWCT run against Emberley during the tournament-opening draw at 5 p.m. Friday, while Orsted takes on Anderson and Robson faces Selzer.
Barker plays Resch in the second draw at 9 p.m. on Friday, while Ricci battles Stevenson in their opener at the same time.
Tournament action continues with draws at 10:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, followed by the quarter-final at 9 a.m., semifinal at 12:30 p.m. and championship final at 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Weekend passes are $35, day passes $12 and draw passes $6. Tickets are available at the Moose Jaw Events Centre box office and through SaskTix.
You can follow along with all the scores from the weekend at www.curlsask.ca and clicking on the scores and results tab.
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