You've got to start somewhere

Well, I'm kicking off this new blog just two days after the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts wrapped up and four days before the start of the 2009 Tim Hortons Brier. This is the heart of the season. With that in mind, I need to start somewhere so I might as well start with a look at the now completed Scotties and a couple of historical points.

One thing I've noticed is that it seems much more common for women curlers who've won a national junior crown to have success at the adult level than it is for male champions.
A look at the rosters of the 12 teams that just finished competing in Victoria shows no less than 16 former Canadian junior champions filling out the 48 rosters spots (a full one-third of the spots).
In fact, the entire New Brunswick team was made up of members of two different championships (1991 and 2005).
These players were spread out on seven different teams. Only N.W.T/Yukon, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, and Nova Scotia did not have any of these players.

Here are the 16 in question with their maiden names, if necessary, the position they played when they won the junior crown and the province they played for in Victoria along with the position.
Darcy Kirkness (Robertson) — Manitoba skip 1984; Manitoba third
Barb Kirkness (Spencer) — Manitoba third 1984; Manitoba skip
Barb Fetch (Enright) — Manitoba lead 1984; Manitoba lead
Marla Geiger (Mallett) — B.C. lead 1987; B.C. skip
Cathy Overton(-Clapham) — Manitoba skip 1989; Team Canada third
Denise Cormier (Nowlan) — N.B. third 1991; N.B. third
Jennifer Jones — Manitoba skip 1994; Team Canada skip
Jill Officer — Manitoba second 1994; Team Canada second
Marie-France Larouche — Quebec skip 1999; Quebec skip
Nancy Belanger — Quebec third 1999; Quebec third
Stefanie Miller — Sask. skip 2000; Sask. skip
Marliese Miller — Sask. third 2000, Sask. skip 2003; Sask. third
Robyn MacPhee — P.E.I. second 2001, third 2002; P.E.I. fourth
Andrea Kelly — N.B. skip 2005; N.B. skip
Jodie deSolla — N.B. second 2005; N.B. second
Lianne Sobey — N.B. lead 2005; N.B. lead

On the flip side, there doesn't seem to be as many competing and winning at the Brier and I'll look at that in one of my upcoming posts.