It would be easy for Jocelyn Peterman and her junior women’s curling rink to reflect on the negatives after returning from the world championships in Sweden.
Peterman lost her final three games, including an 11-10 decision to Russia in a tie-breaker.
But Peterman didn’t become Canadian champion by dwelling on the negative.
“We were so close, which is a little disappointing . . . we win one of our two final (round-robin) games and we’d finish first,” she said after returning to Calgary late Tuesday afternoon. “I think it was a little bit of nerves on our part, but we can’t look back. We have to look at the positives and learn from them.”
And there were plenty of positives. After losing their opening game of the round-robin to the Czech Republic, they ran off six straight wins, including a victory over eventual champion Scotland, who beat the Czechs in the final.
One of the positives for the team, was meeting so many new people and making friends.
“One of the things I’ll always remember is that we had a group of kids from Sweden cheering for us. They had Canadian gear and were so great. As well after we lost the volunteers came up and said how they appreciated us, that felt great.”
Peterman, third Brittany Tran, second Rebecca Konschuh and lead Kristine Anderson will sit down in the next week or so and discuss how their season went, look at what they learned at the worlds and look ahead to next season.
“It was exciting and it makes you want to start training for next year now,” Peterman said. “We’ll take off a week, then get back together. We’ll do some off-ice training and there’s ice available in Calgary, so we’ll do some training there as well.”
The whole team is only 18 and have two years of junior remaining and plan on staying together.
“A lot of teams change all the time, but we’re such good friends. We have a strong bond,” said Peterman. “We want to stay together and after being to the worlds once we want to go back.”
Next year’s world championship is in Sochi, Russia, home of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
“That would be great, as from what I understand the championships will take place in the same facility as the Olympics,” said Peterman. “But we can’t look that far ahead. First thing we’ll need to do next year is qualify out of the province, just to get to the Canadians.”
Although it’s still a couple years down the road Peterman could see the team sticking together beyond junior.
“We’re still a young team, but I could see that,” she said.
The only time the team won’t be training for curling is during the summer when Peterman turns in her broom for a bat and a glove. She’s an outstanding outfielder, having played with the Red Deer Rage midget team last season. This year she’ll have to switch to the women’s division.
“I’ll talk to a few teams in Calgary, or possibly play in the Red Deer Ladies’ League and maybe play for a team in Calgary on the weekends . . . we’ll see,” she said.
Peterman, Tran and Konschuh attend Mount Royal University with Anderson at Marvel College.
“We all wanted to be together, so this worked the best,” said Peterman whose mother and coach, Nancy McInerney, works at RDC.
“Mom wanted me to go there, but this way we’re together and don’t have to travel so much,” added Peterman.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com