Day 4 at the Scotties: Manitoba's Cameron looks to better last year's bronze
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They were bronze-best a year ago in Calgary. Not too shabby for a first-year team with a skip 10 years removed from her last boss duties.
But bigger, better medals are in the minds of Kate Cameron and her Manitoba mates at the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
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Day 4 at the Scotties: Manitoba's Cameron looks to better last year's bronze Back to video
Specifically, those golds they fell short of by two wins at WinSport last winter.
“We’re at a better advantage this year, for sure,” said Cameron, of her Heather Curling Club team featuring third Taylor McDonald, second Brianna Cullen and lead Mackenzie Elias.
“I would say we’re more prepared — we’re more ready,” continued Cameron. “We’re more team kind-of unified here. I think we’re really working together. We really want to do it all together.
“We’re not just four individual athletes out there.”
That, Cameron hints, was perhaps the difference between bronze and a shot at gold last year.
With longtime teammate and second McDonald expecting her first child, she wasn’t in the lineup for that third-place run, so Cameron turned to Kelsey Rocque — a former foe on Alberta’s curling scene.
But McDonald is back on the ice for these Scotties, having been bumped up to third this season with Meghan Walter leaving to focus on her studies.
And Cullen is now in place at second, giving the Cameron crew a new look this winter but one that excites the 33-year-old skip.
“I think last year we were four individual athletes,” Cameron said. “And luckily, we kept building as the week went on last year.
“But … you know … we had a new player filling in, and I think we didn’t know each other really great.”
They do now, hints Cameron once more, which is a boost to their mission to better their bronze finish of last year.
So, too, is the addition of curling legend Glenn Howard as team coach.
“He’s great,” Cameron said. “Not only is he’s obviously very good at curling and very knowledgeable, but he’s bringing a lot of positive energy to our team and really helping us to be fired up and ready to go.
“This year, we’ve worked all year, kind of getting that team chemistry and getting that really good trust with one another,” continued Cameron. “And we kind of have just an open-door policy on our team — lots of chatter, lots of learning and lots of feeding it forward. And I think that’s what we need to rely on to really be successful.”
They’ll know soon how successful the week might be based on Tuesday’s doubleheader. Cameron & Co. get the two teams that jumped out to 2-0 starts in their pool — Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges (2-1) and Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson (2-0) — at Fort Williams Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ont.
The Manitoba champions are 2-1 themselves, with a day off Monday to plan their attack for the two-test day ahead.
“I think it’s earlier than we want a bye, and obviously having a whole day off isn’t ideal,” said Cameron, making her eighth Scotties visit — four repping Alberta and four sporting Manitoba’s buffalo. “But we’ll get some rest and some good sleep, and we’re having a little bit of family time (Monday), and we have two practice sessions on the ice.
“So I think, for us, it’s OK. It’s a long week, and I think whenever you can get the rest, it’s really beneficial.”
Trouble is it came at arguably the worst time for Cameron, following a no-doubt 15-4 win late Sunday over Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brooke Godsland. It was a redemptive game to put the Winnipeg rink back on the track they expect after an ugly 12-3 loss earlier Sunday to Manitoba’s Kaitlyn Lawes.
“We needed that,” McDonald told reporters. “We needed to make a few more shots and give our skipper something to look at. It felt way more comfortable than the morning game.”
“Definitely a good bounce-back for us,” added Cameron. “I think we know we have what it takes. I think it’s just putting it all together at the time.”
EXTRA ENDS
Monday’s early Battle of Alberta featuring Calgary’s Kayla Skrlik and Edmonton’s Selena Sturmay (2-2) was a see-saw affair until the ninth end, when stellar shots by The Glencoe Club skip earned the Skrlik squad three in a 6-5 victory in Pool A action. But Skrlik (3-2) fell 10-4 in the late draw to Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville (1-4) as the host team picked up its first win. In other Monday night games, Canada’s Rachel Homan (4-0) remained atop the pool with a 9-6 decision over Saskatchewan’s Nancy Martin (3-2), B.C.’s Corryn Brown (4-1) scored a 10-3 win over Nunavut’s Lisa Weagle (0-4), and New Brunswick’s Melissa Adams (2-2) edged Prince Edward Island’s Jane DiCarlo (1-3) 8-7 in an extra end. Earlier, Brown bounced McCarville 9-3 and Martin topped Adams 7-5. The other morning match saw DiCarlo finally win her first-ever Scotties game after finishing 0-8 last year, with a 7-6 triumph over Weag … Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson (2-1) went into Monday looking to stay unbeaten but lost her afternoon draw 9-6 to Québec’s Laurie St-Georges (3-1), who took over a share of top spot in Pool B with that key decision. Ontario’s Danielle Inglis (3-1) and Nova Scotia’s Christina Black (3-1) join St-Georges atop the pool after respective 8-6 and 11-4 matinee wins over Manitoba’s Kaitlyn Lawes (1-3) and Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brooke Godsland (0-4). The other afternoon affair saw Northwest Territories’ Kerry Galusha (1-2) upend Yukon’s Bayly Scoffin (1-2) 14-8 on the strength of a NWT-best five-count in the fourth end … Scotties action continues Tuesday — all times ET and on TSN — with Draw 10 (9 a.m.), Draw 11 (2 p.m.) and Draw 12 (7 p.m.).
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