Skip defends provincial Scotties title this weekend
(by Dave Stewart)
Suzanne Birt doesn’t crack under pressure, she thrives on it.
That becomes crystal clear in conversation.
Not that it comes as a surprise. She has led teams to six appearances at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, all following an impressive run as a junior which saw her win the national championship twice (2001, 2002) and the world title, beating Sweden’s Matilda Mattsson in a nailbiting finish that came down to the last rock.
Now, she enters the provincial Scotties championship as defending champion. The Charlottetown Curling Club will serve as host to six teams with the competition getting underway Friday morning.
Birt’s team includes Shelly Bradley at third stone, Robyn MacPhee at second stone, and Leslie MacDougall throwing lead rocks.
The rink comes in on a roll, having participated in six major tournaments since early December, all against some of the best women’s teams in the country.
“We have high goals and we just wanted to make sure we were well prepared for this weekend,’’ Birt said Thursday. “We wanted to take advantage of those big spiels so we’re absolutely ready for the tournament this upcoming weekend.’’
That was one of the big knocks on Island curling teams in the past — they weren’t facing the best teams often enough and it cost them at the nationals.
That won’t be an excuse for the Birt rink which is coming off a bronze-medal finish at the International Bernese Ladies Cup in Bern, Switzerland, last weekend.
But Birt shrugs off any concerns that her team might be running out of gas.