Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Line-up for the 2011 Scott Tournament of Hearts

There is a good summary of the lineup, including references to all the teams' prior accomplishments, at this site. As a summary, here is a list of the teams that will be competing next week:
  • Territories/Yukon: Kerry Koe Galusha
  • BC: Kelly Scott
  • Alberta: Shannon Kleibrink
  • Saskatchewan: Amber Holland
  • Manitoba: Cathy Overton-Clapham
  • Ontario: Rachel Homan
  • Quebec: Marie-France Larouche
  • New Brunswick: Andrea Kelly
  • Nova Scotia: Heather Smith-Dacey
  • PEI: Suzanne Gaudet Birt
  • Newfoundland: Stacie Devereaux
  • Canada: Jennifer Jones
Even though there is a lot of experience in the field, there are no outstandingly strong teams that look as if they will dominate the tournament.
  • Jennifer Jones could repeat, but she did not look great at the worlds last year, and it will be interesting to see how she does without Cathy O as vice-skip.
  • And, of course, it will be fun to see Cathy O skipping on her own.
  • Kelly Scott is usually a strong contender and will likely be in the play-offs again this year.
  • Shannon Kleibrink, with a new front end after the 2006 Olympics, finished well in the Alberta championships this year.
  • But my money is on the young upstarts from Ontario, who were world junior champions last year [correction: as Mark reminds me in the comments, they were silver medalists]. Rachel Homan and her rink took people a bit by surprise in the Ontario playdowns and could well, despite their youth (or maybe because of it) surprise even more people by finishing well at the Scott.

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posted by EclectEcon @ 2:16:00 a.m.   2 comments

2 Comments:

At 2/15/2011 9:11 a.m., Blogger Unknown said...

I'll call the playoffs as Canada, Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba.

I'll take Alberta to win over Canada in the final. I'd love to see Homan win, but I think the lack of experience at the Big Show will work against them. Watch out though, they will be back.

Oh, and they lost the final last year:
http://www.worldcurling.org/world-junior-championships-junior-women-final-medal-games

 
At 2/15/2011 9:17 a.m., Blogger EclectEcon said...

Oops. Right. Homan's rink was in the finals. And I expect you're right about their lack of experience at this level. But given that they have had lots of experience against good teams, I'll stick with that pick anyway.

Just to be clear, though, I wouldn't put any money on my pick 8-)

 

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