(by Dave Stewart)

Team Canada and Manitoba are expected to arrive today for women’s curling nationals

Preparations for the Scotties Tournament of Hearts have moved into hyper drive. Team Canada’s Jennifer Jones and Manitoba’s Cathy Overton-Clapham were scheduled to fly into Charlottetown Wednesday night with the rest of the field arriving throughout the day today.

 The national women’s curling championship begins Saturday and runs through Sunday, Feb. 27.

 “Most of the teams are showing up today (before) starting Friday morning with practice sessions and then moving into the Ford Hot Shots (in the afternoon),” said Rob Dewhirst, event manager with the Scotties.

Some of the curlers in the field have reserved practice time at the Charlottetown Curling Club today to get in a few extra draws and hits before they can get on the ice on Friday at the Civic Centre.

The Canadian Curling Association will arrive in full force today. The association’s IT team was at the Civic Centre on Wednesday setting up Internet feeds.

The Sports Network’s  cargo was being unloaded on Wednesday. The network’s big mobile high definition production vehicle was supposed to arrive later in the evening.

The action starts for real on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. with P.E.I.  (Suzanne Birt) facing New Brunswick (Andrea Kelly,  Ontario (Rachel Homan) facing Nova Scotia (Heather Smith-Dacey), Northwest Territories/Yukon (Kerry Galusha) taking on Alberta (Shannon Kleibrink) and Manitoba (Overton-Clapham) meeting Saskatchewan (Amber Holland).

 Click for full story in The Guardian.

Canadian Press photo

Team Canada skip Jennifer Jones. Canadian Press photo