(By Daniel Austin)

This fall, everything in the Canadian curling world revolves around Olympic trials.

But Crystal Webster was happy to get one particular game out of the way before shifting her focus to qualifying for Sochi.

That game saw Webster’s team take on Laura Crocker’s team, which now includes [PEI native] Erin Carmody — who curled with the Calgary-based team for the past two seasons — in the quarterfinals of the Shoot-out @ the Saville Centre in early September.

“There were a lot of emotions running pretty high for that game,” Webster said. “I’m glad we got it out of the way early in the season and we weren’t playing our first game against them in the finals at the pre-trials or something.

“At the end of the day, (Carmody’s) departure (from our team) probably worked out as a positive for everybody, but there were definitely some awkward moments.

“Now, we can sort of put it to rest.”

Webster’s team would win the game 5-2 en route to the championship in Edmonton. It was a strong start for a team looking to integrate new third Cathy Overton-Clapham — who won four Canadian championships in six seasons with Jennifer Jones — as quickly as possible.

Despite the 7-0 record at the World Curling Tour stop in Edmonton, the Calgary rink — which also includes [PEI native] Geri-Lynn Ramsay and Samantha Preston — had to scrape through challenging late-game situations to claim the championship.

Click for full story in the Calgary Sun