MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — Nova Scotia’s Taylour Stevens already has left her mark on the Scotties Tournament of Hearts as a rookie, but still has more to prove.
Down 7-6 in the 10th end with hammer against Ontario’s Hailey Armstrong on Thursday, Stevens needed to make one more fantastic shot to help her team reach the playoffs at the Canadian national women’s curling championship.
So, of course, Stevens decided to do it in the most dramatic way possible.
The Nova Scotia skip nailed an in-off — the shot made famous by Jennifer Jones to win the Scotties in 2005 against, wouldn’t you know it, Ontario.
Without hesitation, Stevens planted the broom and threw the shot, knowing what was on the line.
Just like Jones in 2005, Stevens was screaming the whole time the rock travelled the length of the ice until realizing she had made the biggest shot of her life, giving Nova Scotia a thrilling 9-7 win.
“That shot was insane, I’m still shaking,” Stevens, 25, said.
Even though Stevens blew the game wide open in the seventh with a massive four-ender to take a 6-2 lead, the next two ends she gave five points right back to Armstrong, including a steal of three in the ninth.
Stevens was attempting a double for two, to essentially win the game, but instead jammed and was left stunned, realizing she had just given up three.
“We probably should’ve taken our timeout and just taken a second to look at the angle and given myself a little bit more ice,” said Stevens. “We just needed to take a little extra ice and take a moment to think about it, and yeah, just got a little unlucky there.”
Thanks to Stevens’ resilience, though, the rookie skipper is headed to the playoffs.
“We just know we have to be mentally tough out there,” said Stevens. “In the grand scheme of things even though that was a big swing of momentum, we tried to just keep it in our favour and make all eight shots in the 10th end and it worked out.”
With the win, for the first time ever, there will be two Nova Scotia teams competing in the Scotties playoffs, something that was on the mind of Stevens as she took the ice before the game. Nova Scotia’s Christina Black, competing in the other pool, secured her spot on Wednesday.
“That’s insane, I did see that post before we went out on the ice and I just tried very hard not to think about it too much, but history is made and I’m so proud of us.”
For Stevens, the team goal coming into the week was to make the playoffs, but now that they’ve reached that mark, they’ll aim even higher.
“I’m going to cry again, that’s crazy to hear,” she said. “I mean, this was our goal all along and we’ve accomplished our first goal but we don’t want to let loose or anything and we’re still going to play hard in the playoffs, crazy to say.”
The first-year team — Stevens, third Maria Fitzgerald, second Alison Umlah and lead Cate Fitzgerald (Maria’s sister) — had no Scotties playing experience heading into this event.
Manitoba’s Team Kaitlyn Lawes (8-0) and Team Canada’s Kerri Einarson (7-1) secured the first two playoff spots in Pool A on Wednesday, earning berths to the advantageous Page 1-2 qualifiers on Friday. Stevens is the final Pool A qualifier.
Manitoba’s Team Beth Peterson (7-0), Nova Scotia’s Black (6-1) and Alberta’s Team Selena Sturmay (6-1) have clinched the playoff spots in Pool B. Peterson can clinch first place with a win over Sturmay in the round-robin finale on Thursday night.
Two-time defending champion Rachel Homan is not in the event as she is preparing to curl for Canada at the Winter Olympics.
The winner of Sunday’s final will represent Canada in the world women’s curling championship in March in Calgary.
