SUNDRE – A former resident whose curling career got started at the local club’s junior program is in Calgary to compete in this weekend’s 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Danielle Schmiemann, who this season joined Team Sturmay, recently snatched victory from the jaws of defeat alongside her teammates and dethroned the defending champions during provincials to earn the chance to represent Alberta.
“We had the eight team round robin (format) that it’s been for the last couple of years,” Schmiemann said about the Sentinel Storage Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts that was held near the end of January in St. Paul at the Clancy Richard Arena.
“We ended up getting the by straight to the final based on our round robin record and then we ended up playing Team Skrlik in the final there,” Schmiemann told the Albertan.
“They actually won last year, so they were defending champions,” she said during a phone interview from Calgary while fielding calls from media ahead of the big tournament that starts tonight.
Although Team Skrlik, from Calgary, notched out a victory against Team Sturmay during the round robin, the latter returned hungry for an upset during the rematch in the final.
Despite being down by one point going into the last end, Team Sturmay remained undaunted and refused to throw in the towel.
“We had a crazy game,” said Schmiemann.
“We were down one in the last end and we stole two to win,” she said, adding the final score was 6-5, which earned their rink the opportunity to represent the province at The Scotties Tournament of Hearts, which is being hosted in Calgary from Feb. 16-24.
The outcome of that contest will determine which rink goes onto represent Canada at the upcoming 2024 World Women’s Curling championship later in March in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
