General Observations

I have focused so much on Jennifer… but I watched the others as well. Kelly Scott was so keen when the other team practiced: I saw her watching every single throw by Team Canada before their morning match-up. And rarely glancing at other sheets. And so quiet.

Whereas Jennifer (back to her!) seemed to be unfocused. Strange: when they were being interviewed, Janet Arnott said that Jenn’s best characteristic was her focus. I didn’t see it this week. You could see how easily she went up and down within a game, or even an end: giggling and chatty and relaxed when things were good; silent and brooding and uncertain when things were down. Other skips didn’t seem to show that same range of emotions, though surely they felt them too. I found it interesting that while her three players all gave each other resounding high fives before each end (unlike the wimpy high fives the AB team gave each other), Jenn never participated in that. Not once. I got the impression that she is certainly not the touchy-feely one on the team. Or maybe the skip is always a little distant. She was always the last one to appear for practice.

Mary-Anne Arsenault had one of the best presences on the ice; and I was continually amazed by her ability to slide to the far hog line! Georgina and Lori swagger a little, Kim Kelly is a little excitable, Colleen appears so tiny when she crouches on the ice to watch her shot; Andrea Kelly had a charismatic presence on the ice and I loved when she threw her arms wide and called to her sweepers to tell her the weight of the shot.

The loudest yellers on the ice were Lori—screaming like an eagle—and then Jennifer, who you could visibly see taking a big breath for each yell and then putting her whole body into it, nearly flattening herself on the ice as she shouts encouragement to her sweepers. Then there’s Kelly Scott with her quiet “hurry, yup” calls to her sweepers. I should have watched them closer during the week to see how they communicated when all those schoolkids were screaming.