Suzanne Birt can book her ticket for the Calgary bubble. The veteran skip wants to make sure she’s wearing familiar Prince Edward Island colours when she’s there.
Suzanne Birt (Curling Canada photo)
Birt will be a heavy favourite in a best-of-five playdown starting Friday against unheralded Darlene London at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary, P.E.I. The winner will represent the province at the Feb. 19-28 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
“It would mean a lot to us to be that team,” Birt said Tuesday from Charlottetown.
The Prince Edward Island result will have direct ramifications on the wild-card picture at the Scotties. No. 2 Tracy Fleury and No. 11 Mackenzie Zacharias, both from Manitoba, have already secured the first two wild-card spots in the expanded 18-team draw.
[Team Zacharias includes New Dominion P.E.I native Lauren Lenentine.]
If Birt wins the provincial title, the third and final wild-card entry will go to Beth Peterson of Manitoba, based on her No. 12 position in the Canadian rankings. A loss would give Birt the berth since she’s ranked higher at No. 9.
“We’ve been practicing and preparing for the past few months (since) we were in the mindset that we would be there,” Birt said. “We wanted to train like normal and be in that setting. That hasn’t changed at all.”
The curling season in P.E.I., meanwhile, has been running rather smoothly. Curl PEI even eased some modifications this week to allow for the return of pre-pandemic sweeping rules.
The Prince Edward Island men’s championship is also set to begin Friday.