Tracy Fleury’s East St. Paul squad currently has a schedule of a grand total of two events. Yes, two.
“At the end of November, we’re playing at an event in Morris,” third Selena Njegovan said. “Right now, it’s just Morris and the provincials. Then, we’ll see if anything comes up. It’s very difficult to plan anything this year.”
Fleury has already qualified for the Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts, which is scheduled to be played at the team’s home club come January.
“By now, we probably would have played five or six events in a normal year,” Fleury said from her Sudbury, Ont., home.
Because of the pandemic, many curling events have already been cancelled and Fleury has not even been able to practise because her Sudbury club delayed putting ice in.
“It’s an unusual season from a planning perspective, but we hope to put something together,” Fleury said.
Making those plans even more difficult are the travel restrictions and the fact that Fleury just had a baby (Nina) in July. While there may be some athletes’ exemptions from quarantining available for those who are in the national training program right now, that could change at any moment. Even if Fleury was granted an exemption, she does not know if that would include her husband, whom she is hoping will join her in Morris to look after their daughter while she curls.
Meanwhile, Fleury has kept in touch with her Manitoba teammates through Zoom and other means.
“Our lives are a lot more different with no travelling,” Njegovan said. “But we’re trying to make it work and trying to make sure we’re all on the same page.”
With second Liz Fyfe and lead Kristin MacCuish, Fleury enjoyed almost instant success after she replaced Kerri Einarson as their skip three years ago.
“Definitely, our first year was successful, but we’ve done a lot of building on it,” said Fleury, who led the foursome to the Manitoba title that first year. “Winning the province was a highlight.”
And they did build on that success.
“Last season, we won a Slam and only missed the playoffs in one event that we entered,” said Fleury, adding that her squad had such a good season that it is currently second in Canadian Team Ranking System points in Canada.
Curling Canada has since frozen earning points, which could become even more important when it comes to qualifying for the 2021 Canadian Curling Trials.
“That’s definitely a big goal of ours and we’ll do what we can this season,” said Fleury, 34.
Fleury recently hired well-respected Sherry Middaugh to coach her foursome.
“She’s a great competitor and we’re really excited about that,” Fleury added.
