The 2012 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, a nine-day celebration of women’s curling, has come and gone.
Left behind are memories, but still prevalent is a city’s pride in hosting such a prestigious national event.
The Red Deer Scotties attracted a total of 94,997 curling fans, fifth-best in the history of the competition and just down the list from the 2004 event which drew an all-time second-best attendance of 112,866 to the Centrium.
With that being said, here are some leftovers from the 2012 Scotties:
• The gathering of teams was first-rate and the level of curling improved from draw to draw, and was particularly impressive later in the week. Saturday’s semifinal between Alberta and Manitoba has to rate right up there with one of the most entertaining games ever, and was certainly one of the finest in Scotties history.
It was a back-and-forth battle that featured an assortment of dazzling shots and was finally decided on two 11th-end measures. To make matters more dramatic, the overhead-camera view seemed to suggest that the Manitoba stone sharing a piece of the four-foot with Heather Nedohin’s final delivery was the counter, when in fact a first and then a second measure revealed that the Alberta stone represented the winning point.
Nedohin went on to execute a handful of difficult shots in Sunday’s 7-6 win over Kelly Scott and her B.C. foursome in the championship final, a game what really wasn’t as close as the score indicated.
Dave Nedohin, Heather’s husband and the author of many spectactular shots in the Brier and men’ world championships, was overwhelmed by the skill presented by the nation’s finest female curlers.
“I’m flabbergasted. This is some of the best curling that I’ve seen at the Scotties in a long time,” he said.
• Manitoba, skipped by the wildly successful Jennifer Jones, was the popular pre-tournament pick to take top honours in the Canadian championship, but Jones shrugged off that sentiment following the semifinal loss.
“I never even heard that. I don’t read the media, sorry,” she said. “This was a great field. I’ve said that all along and it’s going to be an outstanding final tomorrow.”
• Jones, a four-time Scotties champion, was clearly dejected after losing her second playoff game in as many days (following Friday’s 1-2 Page playoff defeat to B.C.) and admitted she wasn’t relishing the thought of playing in the bronze-medal game versus Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche Sunday morning.
“I don’t like the bronze-medal game at all,” said Jones.
“I don’t think any player out here likes it. But we’ll come out and we’ll play tomorrow.”
And they did, and the result was an 8-6 victory for Manitoba and an accompanying cheque for $12,000. The Quebec team pocketed $7,000.
Jones is hoping that her Manitoba crew, which has secured a berth in the Olympic trials in December of 2013 at Winnipeg and consists also of third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn Askin, will stay together next season and beyond.
“I haven’t asked them, but in my kind there’s no doubt,” said the skip. “I think they’re terrific teammates, terrific human beings and amazing players. The plan is to play to the trials. I’m assuming they are, but I can’t speak for them.”
• From the numerous top-flight shots executed during the week, a rock tossed by B.C. third Sasha Carter was selected as the shot of the tournament.
With her first rock of the eighth end in Friday’s 1-2 Page playoff with Manitoba, Carter pulled off a long raise takeout, removing a Manitoba stone buried on the button as well as a Manitoba rock that was sitting third-shot, and leaving B.C. sitting shot behind a long guard.
gmeachem@www.reddeeradvocate.com