Saskatchewan skip Amber Holland, from left, third Kim Schneider, second Tammy Schneider, and lead Heather Kalenchuk pose with the winner’s trophy after beating Team Canada during the final game at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts curling championship in Charlottetown on Sunday.
Photograph by: SHAUN BEST, REUTERS
(by Allen Cameron)-CHARLOTTETOWN-On the opening weekend of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Saskatchewan skip Amber Holland told reporters she considers herself one of the best skips in the country.
In the event that actually can legitimize her claim, Holland delivered the goods.
Holland’s Saskatchewan champs from Kronau ended a three-year win streak for Team Canada’s Jennifer Jones with a stunning 8-7 victory in the final of the Canadian women’s curling championship Sunday at the Charlottetown Civic Centre when Holland, the Scotties MVP, threw a last-rock draw to the button that Jones couldn’t remove with the game’s last delivery, a short angle double-raise takeout that just failed to curl enough at the end.
“It hasn’t sunk in,” said Holland afterwards. “It hasn’t even sunk in that we won or where we’re going. It was great. Being able to wear the Maple Leaf and be Team Canada is going to be great.”
The 36-year-old skip, backed up by sisters Kim Schneider at third and Tammy Schneider at second and lead Heather Kalenchuk, won her province’s first Hearts title since the late Sandra Schmirler in 1997, and added to what has already been a brilliant and satisfying year for Holland, the executive director of the Saskatchewan Curling Association.
Her province also swept the titles at the M and M Meat Shops Canadian junior men’s and women’s championships earlier this month in Calgary.
“It’s very cool, a dream come true, for sure,” said Kim Schneider. “We’ve always wanted to represent Canada, and it’s great doing it with this group of girls. And it’s extra special sharing it with family.”
Jones had a chance to match Colleen Jones’s record of four consecutive Hearts titles, but in what has been a tumultuous year after the firing of longtime third Cathy Overton-Clapham last April, her Winnipeg team (third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn Askin) fell short at the end.
“It’s been a great run, but we’ve got lots of events still to come,” said Jones. “I think this is just the beginning for this team, and I’m sure we’ll have a lot of fun going into the future.
“I thought we hit (her last shot) pretty much where we wanted to. It just had to curl a quarter-inch more, but that’s curling, that’s what makes it so exciting. They played great today and they’re going to be great Canadian representatives”.
There should be no doubt about that after the display of gutsy curling Saskatchewan showed in the final. Take, for instance, Holland’s first-end decision when instead of hitting an open counter and conceding the deuce, she played a far nervier shot by attempting to freeze to a buried Team Canada rock. She was a foot too heavy and her rock bounced into the open, giving Jones an open hit for three.
But that deficit was erased in the sixth end with a shot named afterwards as the best of the 2011 Scotties – a delicate back-rings-weight tap to barely score a game-tying three and bring the pro-Saskatchewan crowd to its feet.
In the end, Jones had the game’s last rock in her hand, and even the Saskatchewan players thought she had it made.
“We didn’t think (Canada’s raised stone) would roll that far,” said Kim Schneider. “I was just holding my breath and yelling at Amber to sweep it because we didn’t think it would bounce off that hard.”
“Honest to gosh, I was stunned,” added Holland. “Kim’s yelling at me because I was just standing there thinking that she had made it. She’s yelling, ‘Sweep it, sweep it,’ and as it’s rolling, literally I said, ‘Oh, my God. And I looked up and saw Kim jumping and screaming. And then I was like, ‘Wow. We did it.’ ”
Click for full story in the Calgary Herald.
Follow Allen Cameron on Twitter/AllenCameronCH