MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — The long, warm embraces on the ice were followed by tears from the winning skip in front of the media.
This first all-Nova Scotia playoff game in Scotties Tournament of Hearts history may not have been close, but it produced all the emotions we crave in the sporting arena.
“We’re really happy. But I’m really proud of the other team. I’m going to cry just thinking of it,” Christina Black said after her more experienced team eliminated Scotties rookie Taylour Stevens with an 11-6 win in a Page 3-4 qualifier on Friday night.
“I’m so proud of them. They did so great in their first Scotties. It really was like playing this game just not really thinking about who we were playing so I wouldn’t be cheering them on.”
The unheralded Stevens and her team of 25-and-unders entered the week as the 12th seed before making a run all the way to the final six.
Along the way, they showcased their resiliency, fighting hard no matter what obstacles they faced.
The best example came in the third end on Friday. Black scored four in the first end and then Stevens missed a hit for five in the second with a jam. Instead of leading 5-4 in what would have been an absolute barnburner, Stevens trailed 5-0.
Then, disaster struck. While sweeping on Stevens’ first shot in the third end, second Alison Umlah tripped and her cheek hit the handle of the rock as she fell, drawing a loud gasp from the crowd.
A stunned Stevens put her hand over her mouth as her teammate tumbled.
“Are you OK, Alison?” lead and sweeping partner Cate Fitzgerald asked while looking back at her teammate.
“Yep,” Umlah replied.
“Are you sure?” Fitzgerald asked yet again. She got the same response, in words picked up by television microphones.
“I was just scared she was going to fall down on her head. I just didn’t know what was going to happen after that. I’m glad she bounced back and played the rest of the game with us,” Stevens, 25, said.
“She’s a strong one, for sure. I’m proud of her. That’s hard to come back from in a stadium full of people. She knows that. To watch the replay, I don’t think helped too much. It’s a tough one.”
After a brief stoppage, Umlah kept playing. And then on Stevens’ next shot, she made a remarkable double for two to keep the team alive. Umlah finished the game and while Black eventually pulled away, the underdogs finished strong with a deuce in the eighth end before shaking hands.
When the chips were down, the young Nova Scotians didn’t wilt. Just a day earlier in an elimination game, Stevens made a brilliant in-off for three with her final shot to give Nova Scotia a win over Ontario after the Maritimers blew a four-point lead in the previous two ends. It drew comparisons to Jennifer Jones’ Scotties winner in 2005, with a social-media post showing the two shots side by side.
“I screamed when I saw that, the side-by-side video,” Stevens said. “I have watched it so many times. I opened Facebook and Instagram and it’s just my face and hers beside each other over and over again. It is crazy to be compared to her. It’s so unreal.”
Stevens said mental performance coach Andrew Ling played a huge role with the team this season.
“We know how to face adversity. We faced a lot of it this week and we bounced back every time,” she said. “We didn’t count ourselves out of the game ever until it was over. I’m proud of us for that.”
Along with it being the first all-Nova Scotia playoff game, it marked the first time two teams from the province played in the same Scotties since 2005.
That year, the legendary Colleen Jones represented Team Canada, while Kay Zinck skipped Nova Scotia. Zinck died in 2022, while Jones fought cancer valiantly before passing away in November.
A graphic on the big screen Friday showed the 2005 stat: “Both of them are no longer with us and they’re both gone way too soon,” Black said. “And fantastic curlers and champions. I saw that up there and I was like ‘wow that is really cool.’ What a legacy.”
The week of Jones’ death, Black went all the way to the final of the Olympic trials in Halifax. This week, she’ll have a chance to become the first Nova Scotian Scotties champion since Jones in 2004.
“How cool is this?” Black said. “Two Nova Scotia teams made the playoffs. First time ever. I’m so proud. Like us little Nova Scotians, we can do it.”
Stevens is not yet at Black’s level, but time is on her side.
This experience will only leave Stevens, third Maria Fitzgerald, Umlah and Cate Fitzgerald craving more.
“We have a deep field in Nova Scotia,” Stevens said. “Good teams make good teams better. I can’t wait to keep playing against Christina. The future’s bright.”
On Saturday, however, Stevens will be giving Black her full support when the latter team faces Alberta’s Selena Sturmay in the Page 3-4 game.
“Just so proud of Nova Scotia in general,” she said. “If we’re going to lose, I’m glad it was to a Nova Scotia team and I hope they win it all.”
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