By Jim Bender
East St. Paul skip Tracy Fleury surprised herself with how well she curled in the only event she will participate in this shortened season.
After opting out of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts to remain home with her newborn daughter, Nina, who had been having seizures, Fleury decided to play in the Grand Slam Humpty’s Champions Cup in the Calgary Covid bubble.
Fleury then led her team to a 4-0 record before losing a semifinal playoff game to Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni.
“Yeah, I think we were all surprised with how quickly it came back to us, given the long time off,” said Fleury, who has returned to her Sudbury, Ont., home. “Overall, it was a great week and we were quite happy with it.”
Chelsea Carey skipped the squad in the Scotties, so the rest of the team had played before the Slam. But Fleury had not played since before the pandemic started.
“It’s too bad that, for me, the season was only one event, but we’re grateful for that, given how things worked out (with the pandemic),” said Fleury, whose team has already qualified for the Olympic trials.
“It was helpful to experience playing in an event with such great competition and against some of the teams that we’re going to play against in the trials.”
The other trials-bound teams at the Slam were Manitoba’s reigning Canadian champion Kerri Einarson, Manitoba’s Olympic gold medallist Jennifer Jones and Ontario’s former world champion Rachel Homan.
Homan, who was curling just three weeks after giving birth to her second child, Bowyn, defeated Einarson in the other semifinal, then beat Tirinzoni in the final for a record 11th Slam victory.
“We were impressed that she was even there,” Fleury said. “Then, to come out and not skip a beat was really impressive.”
Brent Fleury, Tracy’s husband, looked after Nina while she was away.
“It was a bonding experience for him,” Tracy said. “He’s always been hands on anyway and I felt comfortable knowing he was looking after her.”
Carey, who served as the alternate in the last Slam, has once again taken the reins in the Princess Auto Players’ Championship.
On the men’s side, West St. Paul’s Reid Carruthers finished with a 1-3 record in the Humpty’s Cup while playing with only three players. Skip Mike McEwen had opted out to stay home with his wife, Dawn, who recently gave birth to the couple’s second daughter, Avalon Rose. B.C.’s former world junior champion Tyler Tardi was recruited to play third in both Slams. Lead Colin Hodgson had decided to opt out of the Slams because he did not want to risk returning to the Calgary bubble. No one had any problem with that difficult decision.
BITERS: Scotland’s Bruce Mouat won the Humpty’s Cup, defeating Alberta’s Brier champion Brendan Bottcher in the final … After competing in her second straight Slam, Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson will represent Canada at the women’s world championship, which will also be played in the Calgary bubble. After the women’s worlds are finished, Einarson will fly to Scotland where she and Newfoundland’s Brad Gushue will represent Canada in the world mixed doubles championship.