News General News

Miskew: How it all started

By Emma Miskew

At the ripe age of five my parents signed me up for the little rock program in Ottawa, where Rachel was also starting out. While we ended up in different little rock programs, I saw a lot of Rachel when we got a little older and went into competitions for our clubs. I didn’t know her at the time, but there was a lot of chatter among the other little rockers about how good she was. At this point, competing was becoming increasingly more fun for me and I was joining other curling clubs to get more time on the ice.

Then it was announced that the Ottawa Regional Little Rock final was to be played on the Ottawa Brier ice during the final weekend of the 2001 Brier. I had already been volunteered by my parents to hold flags and signs for the teams that year, but the thought of getting to actually play on the same ice as some of the very best in the world was incredibly motivating.

My team ended up winning enough games to qualify for the final game on the Brier ice, against none other than Rachel Homan’s team. Rachel was skipping a team from one club in the city (clearly she’s always been a skip!), and I was playing second for my team. As an 11-year-old, it was incredibly exciting that we would get to play in such a unique venue. It could have been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for some, but I definitely knew I didn’t want it to be. The atmosphere out there was like nothing I’ve ever felt and right then I absolutely knew I wanted a chance to compete in a building like this one day. With our eight fans cheering us on nervously, it was time to start the game.

Like the building itself wasn’t distracting enough, Randy Ferbey’s dominant team came out to practice on another sheet during our game. Just being on the ice at the same time as them was very cool, so we were absolutely blown away when Marcel Rocque and Scott Pfeifer took time after their practice to come over and talk to the players, passing out autograph cards and encouraging messages. It’s something I’ll never forget!

I know what everyone really wants to know is what happened in the game. Before I say anything, it was a VERY close one … but my team won in the very last end.

I knew that wasn’t the last I was going to see from Rachel. I told my dad I didn’t want to have to play against her again, playing on her team would be better, so he made some phone calls to her dad and set up a hangout date over the summer. We decided that she was going to skip, and I would play third, with our former teammate Alison Kreviazuk at second. While it was kind of like an arranged marriage by our families, it couldn’t have worked out better, because it’s been a pretty amazing ride since then!