Draw Fifteen

Overnight there was a giant snowstorm. And because London doesn’t plow, apparently, the streets were at a standstill. I walked through the snow both on the ground and falling hard and arrived just before the game started. There were only about 100 people there at the start, due to the snow and the hour of the game—this one started at 8:30am. On the plus side, Jenn’s dad looked right at me and threw me a set of Team Canada thundersticks. I never blew them up (good thing too, I blew them up once I was home and still can’t figure out how to get the air out of them). I was settling for supporting them by wearing my white coat and red scarf all week when Canada marched by and played on Sheets C or D. The scarf was shedding like crazy and my seat at the JLC eventually got covered in red fuzz.

Because of the snow and the early hour, I had an outstanding view of the feature game on my sheet, BC versus Canada. I had been looking forward to this and knew this would be my main photo opportunity, and I took tons of photos. Jennifer was frustrated and a little frazzled, even. They played decently, but BC were unstoppable. Kelly was very gracious in her victory.

While I watched alone in a borrowed row, Scottie the mascot came over and gave me a hug and patted me on the head. I was becoming more and more amused and enamoured with the strange and cuddly mascot. I didn’t think he (or the fans' love of him) was weird anymore.

Newfoundland continued their momentous run, beating PEI (who had a little changeup, with their skip playing third) and securing at least a tie-breaker. The game that had the most importance for playoff hopes, and thus the most emotions, was a great game to watch: NB versus Quebec. In each end NB would try to put Quebec in their place, but Bélisle and her team just kept making their shots and deservedly won this well-curled game. Now they needed to beat NS to make the playoffs, a tall order.

Team Canada was featured at the autograph session and I trudged home through the snow, had lunch, then decided to go along belatedly. I returned near the end of the session so that I only had to wait 15 minutes or so to meet them. I seemed to have lost most of my nervousness (just in time to meet my favourite team!). I smiled at Jennifer and she smiled back and held out her hand. I shook it. “I’m Jennifer.” As if I didn’t know! She asked my name. “Are you a curler?” I had rehearsed my answer all week, waiting to be asked… “Of course!” But instead I said “Yes, I am…. Of course.” And then on to the next person behind me. I didn’t speak to any of the others, they all looked a little weary—they’d just come from a tough loss, after all—but they were still upbeat. Jennifer was very gracious, shaking everyone’s hand, unlike any of the other skips I met. I spoke with her dad also and he gave me a Golden Boy pin. I seem to remember that from my Manitoban folklore. Sometimes I forget I have roots there. I attached it to my wee backpack beside my Scottish flag.