A combination of excitement and relief sums up the reaction of Robyn Silvernagle to winning the provincial Scotties title on the weekend.
鈥淲e鈥檝e lost two provincials so to finally break through and win feels pretty incredible,鈥� said Silvernagle after pulling off a 6-5 win over Sherry Anderson to claim the provincial women鈥檚 curling championship in Humboldt.
Anderson, who was the defending champion, had the hammer in the final end and needed to make her last shot to deny Silvernagle the title again for a third straight year.
Silvernagle could not even bring herself to watch Anderson throw that final stone.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 pretty typical for me for not wanting to watch,鈥� said Silvernagle.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think Stefanie (Lawton) was surprised at all when I said 鈥業 can鈥檛 watch this.鈥� I guess we did all we could do and we were hoping for Sherry to miss. She had a really hard shot to make and she didn鈥檛 quite make it. So we feel fortunate that way, but we played a good end, and it was a good game by both teams.鈥�
Team Silvernagle had been the clear favourites in Humboldt. They finished with the best overall record in the round robin, losing one game the entire week.
Yet it wasn鈥檛 an easy road to the final. The team had to come back from 5-0 down against Chantelle Eberle, and three down to Kristen Streifel to win those games on Friday.
鈥淲e battled hard and dug deep and managed to get those victories which was really important,鈥� said Silvernagle.
鈥淎gain, it just shows a little bit of our team character and how we won鈥檛 just give up and we鈥檙e willing to fight for what we want.鈥濃��
After losing to Anderson in the final the year before, and to Penny Barker鈥檚 rink the year before that, Silvernagle was clearly happy to have that weight off of her shoulders.
She credits 鈥渉ard work and determination鈥� as making the difference.
鈥淚t feels pretty good to win and now it鈥檚 just turning around and refocusing on our next task at hand.鈥�
That next task will be competing in the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
The spotlight will surely be on Silvernagle and 鈥淭eam Saskatchewan鈥� as they go into that competition. It will be a major step up in competition as well as media attention, but that is something her team experienced already in North Battleford at the recent Meridian Canadian Open.
鈥淎ny time you get the chance to play the top teams in the world and play on spectacular ice, you鈥檙e going to take it,鈥� said Silvernagle of that experience. 鈥淲e feel fortunate that we were able to play at home and really embrace that crowd, and get used to having that crowd around.鈥�
The Silvernagle team will now take time to get ready for the national Scotties, happening Feb. 16-24.
The plan is to do some practices and 鈥渇ine-tuning鈥� over the coming weeks, in between their full time jobs. They also plan to get some rest beforehand and 鈥渇eel focused and ready鈥�.听
Twin Rivers Curling Club is听 planning to hold an event to send off Team Silvernagle to the Scotties on Friday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.
Silvernagle says her team looks forward to that event so they can show 鈥渢heir support and appreciation to the fans.鈥�
She also hopes her team鈥檚 triumph in the Saskatchewan Scotties will spur on interest and participation in the game here in the Battlefords and area.
鈥淗opefully it brings some attention to curling and maybe get some new people trying it. We have a fantastic facility so it鈥檒l be great if more people came out and actually played, even if it鈥檚 just in a fun league 鈥� it doesn鈥檛 have to be in a high competitive league鈥� but yeah, to keep curling alive.鈥�
听
