Amber Holland of Team Saskatchewan (Photo: Andrew Klaver Photography)
(by Larry Wood)
The slender blonde skip and her Regina-area team staunchly remained the only undefeated skip in the Scotties Tournament Of Hearts on Tuesday night.Holland skipped third Kim Schneider, second Tammy Schneider and lead Heather Kalenchuk, to an 8-5 victory over previously unbeaten Rachel Homan of Ontario in an afternoon battle of giants, then drummed out Kerry Galusha’s Polars from Yellowknife 9-7 with a five-ender in the seventh panel the key offensive.
“They (Territories) were playing pretty well, putting rocks in good spots, and we struggled for a time and didn’t follow up on that” said Holland of the late-shift assignment.
“Obviously, we’re at the point now where we know we have to stay focused. Your game plan doesn’t differ depending on whom you play. You focus on what you can control. You sometimes look at a type of strategy another team likely will play against you based on how we play. But we play what’s in front of us, and focus on our objectives.”
Saskatchewan doesn’t appear to have the toughest row to hoe from here on in. The team faces Nova Scotia (4-3) and Newfoundland (1-6) on Thursday, New Brunswick (2-5) and British Columbia (3-4) on Thursday.
“We try not to put a face to a record or a team that may be considered strong or weaker,” said Holland, “because we know it’s all about what we do on the ice and not about what they do.