CALGARY -- When her team disbanded following the 2019-20 season, two-time Scotties curling champ Chelsea Carey didn’t think she’d get a chance to chase a third title at this year's Scotties tournament in Calgary. But it turns out Carey will be skipping a team at this years Scotties Tournament of Hearts after all.
It just won't be an Alberta team.
She is stepping in as a replacement skip for Tracy Fleury and her Wild Card Manitoba rink. Fleury’s seven -month-old daughter Nina has a rare form of epilepsy, called infantile spasms. Fleury decided not to go in the curling bubble so the team recruited Carey and she says she accepted.
“They reached out to me just to see if I had any interest. It originally was under the understanding that I might not be playing. I might just be their alternate if Tracy (Fleury) decided to go into the bubble if everything had been cleared up with Nina, but it hasn’t unfortunately so then it turned into me playing.”
Carey hasn’t curled competitively since last year's Scotties. Even with a new rink she believes they can come together and make a run at this years event.
“I mean I know those girls really well. I’m from Manitoba and grew up playing against them and with them in some cases,” Carey said.
“I don’t think it will be anything too crazy. And when we looked at some game tape and stuff strategically I don’t think we’re all that different. That part will be okay. There will be a bit of a learning curve with figuring out communication and stuff. I think that will be the toughest part.”
The good thing is once teams get into the bubble they will be allowed four hours of practice. Carey says that will help with the communication. She says she’s not too concerned that she hasn’t played a game in a while.
“This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve been around this game a long time and I’ve played a lot of games and taken a lot of slides,” she said.
“I think it will be fine physically. It’s just a matter of getting my head around it.”
No fans
This years Scotties will be played in a bubble at the Markin McPhail Centre at Winsport. There will be no fans so Carey says for sure it will be different but she’s glad they’ll be able to crown a 2021 champ and happy she’ll be able to get back on the ice and play the game she loves.
“In some ways it’s maybe even a little more exciting," she said, "because we’ve been deprived of anything to do and look forward to things, right? So in many ways it’s exciting and in some ways it’s scary because you’re used to having an awful lot more prep time going in - but definitely I’m looking forward to it.”
The Scotties Tournament of Hearts will start on February 19 and wrap up on February 28.
