By CHARLES TWEED
The Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts took place last weekend in Camrose and although there were no teams competing out of Ponoka at the event, don’t be fooled into thinking there wasn’t some Ponoka flair.
Lindsay Amundsen-Meyer, 24, was born and raised in Ponoka and plays third for the Doyle rink out of Highwood Curling Club in High River. The team is made up of Tanilla Doyle at skip, Christina Faulkner is the second, and Janice Bailey rounds out the team throwing lead stones.
Amundsen-Meyer hooked up with Doyle seven years ago when she first moved to Calgary to go to university. The two grabbed Faulkner three years later to play second and this is Bailey’s first full campaign with the foursome.
Being such a young team, in the early stages of building chemistry, Amundsen-Meyer wasn’t expecting the type of success they had.
“The experience we have gained this year is huge. We never expected to qualify for provincials this year, it was a big stepping stone,” said Amundsen-Meyer.
The tournament, which featured names such as Bernard, Kleibrink and Nedohin, didn’t get off to the greatest start for the High River team.
In their first match team Doyle played the defending champion, Valerie Sweeting. A game that would only last six ends and result in an 11-2 loss but part of the process for Amundsen-Meyer is about gaining experience and being mindful to keep things in perspective.
“It was a little tricky, it was definitely an adjustment playing in arena ice because we’ve never done that before and it might have been a bigger adjustment than we anticipated. It made it difficult and we struggled. The bottom line is we were all upset when we came off but we have a great coach (John Steel) and he told us not to fight the ice.”
The advice paid off in game 2.
Facing Dana Ferguson, the Doyle rink was up one in the 10th with the hammer. The plan was to keep it clean and run the Ferguson team out of rocks. But plans rarely come together — at least in their original, conceived form.
After second Christina Faulkner was asked to peel a guard, she missed slightly and stuck her shooter. The miss gave Ferguson an opportunity to take advantage of the guards out front — and they did. Ferguson buried two around the guards to lay two in 10, with one rock remaining. Doyle didn’t have many options and settled on throwing a heavy draw that would need an inoff one of Ferguson stones, to catch the four.
“Our skip made a great shot in the last end to win it. And we used the experience from the last game to our advantage, instead of fighting the ice. Plus the nerves were gone from playing a game so that helped.”
The Doyle team would finish up the provincial championships with a record of one win and three losses.
But again, it wasn’t the results Amundsen-Meyer was focused on, but instead the experience and knowledge gained from such a high profile event.
“We wanted to win a game, but really we came with the mindset of keeping every game close. And not put too much emphasis on the scoreboard but instead focus on competing, and being in every game.”
Amundsen-Meyer has come along way from when she used to throw stones at the Ponoka Curling Club with her mom and dad, and credits the experience and coaching she got in town for her success now.
“Steve Peterson was our coach and he is awesome. He knows what he is talking about and is very encouraging. I honestly think if he wasn’t around I wouldn’t be where I am right now. If nothing else he instilled the passion for the game and helped with the skills along the way.”
Amundsen-Meyer and skip Tanilla Doyle will be in Ponoka for the mixed bonspiel Feb. 11 to 13.
If everything goes according to plan, they hope to give back by holding a youth curling skills development session at some point in the weekend.
“The support I’ve received from everyone at the Ponoka club, it really gets you going and gets the fire going. I think it’s important to give some of that back.”