With the exception of one member, it鈥檚 the first time at the provincials for the newly formed Team Mitchell.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very excited to have been able to qualify for provincials on our first go,鈥� said Jessica Mitchell, the team鈥檚 skip. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a great season, and we鈥檝e met and surpassed our goals by qualifying for playoffs at four out of the five Saskatchewan Women鈥檚 Curling Tour events we participated in this season.鈥�
The team is made up for Mitchell, third Danielle Waterfield, second Teresa Waterfield and lead Layne Engel. Because Danielle has exams early in the week, Rikki Schick, who lives in the Quill Lake area and works in Humboldt, will play as an alternate. Their coach is Roger Moskaluke.
鈥淎lthough this is the first time the four of us have curled together on a team, we were not strangers coming into the season,鈥� Mitchell said.
Mitchell curled with Engel back on their school team in Clavet. She had curled with Danielle two years ago for the junior provincials.
鈥淟ayne, Danielle, and Teresa asked me to join on as their fourth member and it was an absolute no brainer,鈥� Mitchell said.
The team is from the Saskatoon Nutana club and is ranked 10th provincially on the Canadian Team Ranking System for women. Nationally, they鈥檙e 56th.
Between the four members of the team, they鈥檝e competed in the high school provincials, Saskatchewan Winter Games playdowns, the juveniles and juniors. Teresa competed in the provincials in 2017 and 2018.
鈥淲e鈥檝e all been chasing provincial championships for many seasons and hope to continue to do so, except now in the women鈥檚 circuit,鈥� Mitchell said.
One of the goal the team has at the provincials is to take advantage of the opportunity to learn those that have been competing at the event for years
鈥淭hat being said, we know that when we play our best, we can compete with these ladies and have the same goal as everyone else 鈥� to qualify for playoffs at the end of the week and take a run at the provincial championship,鈥� Mitchell聽 said.
The skip said she鈥檚 expecting CurlSask and the Humboldt Curling Club to put on a great, professionally run event.
鈥淎lthough two of us live in Regina now, all four of us were born and raised in the Saskatoon area, so we expect lots of fans to make a day trip out to Humboldt to cheer us on,鈥� she said.
