Edmonton skip Val Sweeting looks to win back-to-back Jiffy Lube Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts titles but it isn’t going to be easy with quite possibly the toughest provincial field set to square off Wednesday in Lacombe, Alta.
It’s been quite the season already for Sweeting that has seen lineup changes and a pair of prominent championship wins.
Over the summer, Sweeting lost third Joanne Courtney, who headed east to Ottawa to join reigning Canadian champion Rachel Homan. Seven-time New Brunswick champ Andrea Crawford came onboard at the start of the season but left the team on the eve of the Masters Grand Slam of Curling tournament in late October. Sweeting, second Dana Ferguson and lead Rachelle Brown persevered — moving forward with spare Cathy Overton-Clapham — to defeat Homan during the semifinals and Sochi Olympics silver medallist Margaretha Sigfridsson in the final to win their first career Grand Slam title.
Lori Olson-Johns became their full-time third and Team Sweeting topped Homan again during the Canada Cup final to clinch another championship. The new lineup also reached the semifinals at the Canadian Open Grand Slam.
Team Sweeting sits fourth overall on the World Curling Tour’s order of merit rankings and has momentum heading into the tournament, but Edmonton skips Heather Nedohin and Chelsea Carey could also stake a claim to the Alberta throne.
Nedohin has won four Alberta titles, twice as a skip, and added 2006 Olympic bronze medallist Amy Nixon at third this season. The team is ranked 10th in the world and like Team Sweeting, they made it to the semis at the Canadian Open.
Carey won the bronze medal at last year’s Canadian Scotties skipping Team Manitoba and dismantled her lineup to head west for Edmonton to form a new rink with Laura Crocker, Taylor McDonald and Jen Gates. Crocker and Gates won back-to-back Canadian University titles in 2011 and 2012 while McDonald captured the Canadian and world junior championships a year ago.
They’re a young team built with the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in mind, but the future could be now for them as they’ve already won two titles on tour this season and qualified for the playoffs at the Canadian Open.
Calgary skips Shannon Kleibrink and Crystal Webster could also cause a stir. Kleibrink is a four-time Alberta champ while Webster looks for her elusive first title. Webster added a new vice this season in Jessie Kaufman, who throws fourth stones for the rink and skipped her previous team to the Alberta final in 2012.