Leading the way is Nova Scotia’s Mary-Anne Arsenault, who alongside the legendary Colleen Jones won five Scotties championships and two world titles in the 2000s.
As fate would have it, it was none other than Jones that Arsenault, third Christina Black, second Jennifer Baxter and lead Emma Logan defeated in the Nova Scotia provincial final, taking a 7-4 victory.
Arsenault also represented Nova Scotia the last time the Scotties was in Moose Jaw in 2015, finishing the round robin with a 5-6 record.
Edmonton’s Laura Walker, third Kate Cameron, second Taylor McDonald and lead Nadine Scotland won the Alberta championship with a 7-4 win over clubmate Kelsey Rocque in the final.
Walker, nee Crocker, is a two-time Canadian University champion, the 2010 national junior champion with Rachel Homan and the world silver medalist that year. Walker also won bronze at the 2018 world mixed doubles championship alongside Kirk Muyres.
Quebec will be represented by Chicoutimi’s Noemie Verreault and her rink of third Alana Routledge, second Marie-Pier Cote and lead Jill Rouledge after they defeated Laval’s Laurie St-Georges 3-1 in final. The 2020 Scotties will mark their first appearance at the tournament as a rink.
New Brunswick’s representative will have no shortage of experience. Andrea Crawford and her rink of third Jennifer Armstrong, second Jillian Babin and lead Katie Forward went unbeaten through provincials, capping off their run with a 6-3 win over Sylvie Quillian.
It’s the second straight provincial title for Crawford and ninth overall.
They’ll be joined at the Scotties by Saskatchewan’s Robyn Silvernagle, Team Canada’s Chelsea Carey, Newfoundland’s Erica Curtis, Northwest Territories Kerry Galusha, Nunuvat’s Lori Eddy, Prince Edward Island’s Suzanne Birt and Yukon’s Hailey Birnie.
B.C., Manitoba, Northern Ontario and Ontario all hold their provincial championships this week, with the final Scotties draw to be announced on Feb. 3.
While the Wild Card teams have yet to be decided, the province they’ll come from has, since the top three rinks on the Canadian Team Ranking System are all from Manitoba and the top two CRTS non-Scotties rinks advance to the Wild Card play-in game.
Jennifer Jones, Tracey Fleury and Kerri Einarson – who has played in both previous Wild Card games, winning in 2018 and falling 7-6 to Alberta’s Casey Scheidegger in 2018 – hold down the top three CTRS spots.
A wide variety of ticket packages and single draws are available, for more information check out the Scotties website at www.curling.ca/2020scotties/.
