O’LEARY, P.E.I. — 

It’s an unglamorous but essential role for any successful curling team.

Although front-end players often go about their business with little or no fanfare, it’s a responsibility lead Michelle McQuaid and second Meaghan Hughes excel at and take great pride in. 

Lead Michelle McQuaid, left, and second Meaghan Hughes of the Suzanne Birt rink sweep a rock during the Scotties P.E.I. women’s curling championship at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary recently. The Birt rink defeated Darlene London 3-0 in the best-of-five series to earn the right to represent P.E.I. at the Scotties Canadian women’s curling championship in Calgary from Feb. 20 to 28. – Jason Simmonds

“We have a great time together, and we joke that we will probably move up to seniors together,” said Hughes, 35. “We have a good thing going, I think. 

“We work hard and look at other elite front ends and what they are doing, and we try to mirror as much of our process and game off of the people who are doing it really well. We have a great team that makes it easy for us.”

McQuaid credited a “great chemistry” between the two longtime teammates for their success. They have played together for five straight years, including the last three with the Suzanne Birt-skipped rink.

“We can anticipate before the end starts what our two shots will likely be, so the game plan kind of makes it easy on us to make sure we are making our shots,” said Hughes, a lawyer with the province.

“We have a great time out there, and it’s a nice chemistry with the whole team.”

Click to read the full story by Jason Simmonds in the Saturday edition of The Guardian