Coming up through the ranks Jocelyn Peterman spent most of her time as a skip, so when the Red Deer native jumped to the senior level and found herself at second there was an adjustment to be made.
“It took a while to learn the ropes,” said Peterman, who is in Red Deer this weekend for the Red Deer Curling Classic at the Pidherney Curling Centre.
“It’s a totally different game. It’s more physical now than where you’re thinking of the strategy, but I’m enjoying it so far.”
After a successful junior career, Peterman joined the Heather Nedohin foursome in 2014 and competed in the 2015 Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts, before losing to Chelsea Carey in the semifinal. Last year Nedohin retired and Carey took over as skip.
“The two have different personalities, but there’s also a lot the same,” said Peterman. “It didn’t take long to get used to her. We did start a little slow last year, but picked it up as we went along and peaked at the right time.”
That they did as they won the Alberta Scotties, then captured the Canadian title, advancing to the 2016 Ford World Championships in Swift Current. The team posted an 8-3 record in round-robin play before losing both their playoff games and settling for fourth.
“Disappointing, but it was a great experience,” said Peterman, who knows all about winning.
As a junior she placed second in the 2011 Canada Winter Games and in 2012 captured the Alberta and Canadian junior titles. In the World championships the foursome was 6-3 in round-robin play before losing to Russia in a tiebreaker. In 2014 she reached the Alberta final before losing to Kelsey Rocque, who went on to win the World championship.
“My junior career helped prepare me for the seniors and prepared me for the Scotties,” she said. “I knew what to expect and we played well.”
The Carey foursome went into this season with a bullseye on their backs and similar to last season are off to a slow start.
“Because we went through it last year we’re not worried,” said Peterman. “We would love to play well here this week and start to peak for the Canada Cup (Nov. 30-Dec. 4 in Brandon). If we win there we’ll earn a berth in the Olympic trials and that’s what we’re striving for. Our next goal is to get a chance to compete at the Olympics.”
Carey will also compete in Las Vegas in Continental Cup in January and will receive a bye into the Canadian Scotties Tournament of Hearts as Team Canada.
The 23-year-old Peterman graduated from college in December and is working in cardiology full time. Her boss has been great about her taking time off.
“They knew what I was when I joined them and they’ve been great about giving me all the time off I need.”
Not only is Peterman playing with Carey, but she competes in the mixed doubles with Brett Gallant. The pair won the Canadian title last year and qualified for the Worlds.
“But we couldn’t go to the Worlds because of other commitments,” she said.
Peterman has competed in Red Deer since leaving junior, but it’s always a thrill to return home.
“There’s a lot of good memories here,” she said. “And this is a pretty good event, with a lot of good teams.”
Carey got off to a slow start at the Classic, losing 8-6 to Nancy Martin of Saskatoon in the A side qualifier semifinal. Earlier Martin downed Nicky Kaufman of Edmonton 8-3.
Gerry Lynn Ramsay of Calgary, who has Red Deer’s Brittney Tran at second, advanced to the qualifier semifinal with a 5-3 win over Nadine Chyz of Calgary. Earlier Ramsay downed Brett Barber of Biggar, Sask., 7-3.
On the men’s side, Jamie Koe of Yellowknife, who has Red Deer’s Chris Schille at third, lost 5-4 to Jason Ackerman of Regina in their opening game before beating Roland Robinson of Edmonton 9-0 in B side play.