Photo: Erin Carmody
(by Eric McCarthy)
Well-matched personalities have helped the new Crystal Webster curling team gel, suggests third stone Erin Carmody.
Team Webster is entered in the Alberta Scotties provincial women’s curling championship, which opened on Wednesday at the Leduc Curling Club. They played in the day’s second draw (9:30 p.m., Atlantic time).
Carmody, 23, and the team’s second stone, Geri-Lynn Ramsay, are former P.E.I. junior and Scotties provincial curling champions. They made it to the championship final of the national Scotties two years ago, throwing fourth and third stones on Kathy O’Rourke’s Team P.E.I. rink.
This year, they’ve taken their game on the road.
Carmody, who moved to Alberta with Ramsay last year to join the Webster rink, is the daughter of Dr. Doug and Elspeth Carmody of Summerside. Her only sibling, brother Anson, is second stone on the Brett Gallant rink that will be vying for the P.E.I. men’s championship, which starts today (Thursday). Anson is a former Canadian junior champion and world junior runner-up with Gallant.
Last national championship
Erin Carmody played in a national championship this past November as third stone on Gallant’s P.E.I. mixed rink. She would like to have the opportunity to attend another national in the same curling season.
With such Canadian household names in women’s curling as Shannon Kleibrink, Cheryl Bernard, Valerie Sweeting and Heather Nedohin in the way, winning the right to represent Alberta in the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Red Deer won’t be easy, but Carmody is feeling optimistic.
“We’re very excited to hit the ice,” she said. “We’ve been waiting all season for this time of the year.
“We just had a couple of great team training weekends, so we’re ready to go and are feeling great.”