(by Allen Cameron).
CALGARY — Already, Crystal Webster is seeing progress.
That’s saying something, because the 37-year-old Calgary skip and her young teammates had already taken massive strides last season in their first year together on the women’s curling circuit.
But with two World Curling Tour cheques already in the bank this season, Webster, along with third Erin Carmody, second Geri-Lynn Ramsay and lead Sam Preston, believes her team can take more steps in the right direction this season, if its promising start is any indication.
Photograph by: Colleen De Neve , Calgary Herald
“Absolutely, and it just makes us recognize how much further we are ahead compared to where we were when we started last season,” said Webster, who opened the Grand Slam Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Classic on Friday at the Calgary Curling Club with a 5-4 loss to Andrea Crawford of Fredericton, and was playing a late-finishing B-event game against Regina’s Amber Holland later on Friday. [Editor’s note: Team Webster lost that game 6-5 in an extra end, and plays Lisa Eyamie of Hay River AB tonight at 8:15 MT (11:15 AT)]
“Our confidence is really high. We have a lot of talent on our team, and I think we have a commitment level that’s probably second to none, really, out there. Sooner or later, you have to be confident that it’s going to pay off, and it’s feeling good so far.”
Team Webster opened the year by reaching the women’s final of the Edmonton Shootout before losing to Jennifer Jones’s Winnipeg foursome (being skipped by Kaitlyn Lawes while Jones recovers from knee surgery), and then followed up with a quarter-final appearance at last weekend’s WCT stop in Vernon, B.C.
It’s a solid start to what stacks up as the most crucial season of the Olympic four-year cycle as four more teams will earn direct entry into the 2013 Tim Hortons Olympic Trials in Winnipeg, while another 12 will be decided for the last-chance Pre-Trials qualifier, which will determine the final two entries into the Trials.
In addition to a busy WCT season, Webster also will be part of the elite seven-team field for the Capital One Canada Cup beginning Nov. 28 in Moose Jaw, where a direct-entry Trials berth is up for grabs.
“Everyone is, I’m sure, very aware of what’s on the line this year and trying to grab those last few (Trials) spots,” said Webster. “More than anything, if you look at everybody’s schedule this year, you’re going to see that every event we’re going to has a Grand Slam (calibre) field. Everyone’s playing a lot, which I think is producing a higher level of play overall.”
Webster’s team, which was formed prior to last season when Carmody and Ramsay moved from Prince Edward Island, made a splashy debut at the Alberta Scotties, losing the provincial semi to eventual champion Heather Nedohin, a game that featured a crucial 10th-end measurement that went Nedohin’s way; she would then steal the 11th end and the victory.