Team Sweeting set to defend Masters title

Val Sweeting is excited for the Masters and who can blame her?

After all, it was at the Masters last season where Sweeting, second Dana Ferguson, and lead Rachel Brown won their first career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title with Cathy Overton-Clapham filling in at third.

The Masters win helped turn the Edmonton-based team’s season around as they charged through the rest of 2014-15 capturing the Canada Cup of Curling, successfully defended the Alberta provincial title, and took home silver at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Although Team Sweeting missed the playoffs at the Tour Challenge in Paradise, N.L., to start this season in September, they bounced right back the following week to take the HDF Insurance Shoot-Out, running the table with an undefeated 8-0 on home ice at the Saville Centre.

Now with the Masters back on the horizon, Sweeting is ready to defend her Grand Slam title.

“We simply didn’t play well at the Tour Challenge, we had some uncharacteristic misses, and just weren’t as precise as we needed to be,” Sweeting said via e-mail. “And it was such a good field, that you can’t get away with that at all. But we feel better now. We had a good weekend here in Edmonton.”

“It will certainly feel different entering the Masters than it did last year, but in a good way, having the whole team together,” she added. “We are excited to get to travel to Eastern Canada again and play in the arena in front of the crowd.”

Pinty’s GSOC Masters: Tickets | Teams | Draw Schedule | TV Schedule | Watch Online

Rewind to last year: Sweeting was coming off a breakout season making the Canadian Olympic Trials and finishing runner-up at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Several teams shook up their rosters for the new Olympic cycle and Team Sweeting was no exception with third Joanne Courtney leaving to join Team Homan at second. Sweeting added Andrea Crawford but the seven-time New Brunswick provincial champion’s stay was short-lived as she parted ways with the rink on the eve of the 2014 Masters in Selkirk, Man.

Team Sweeting scrambled to bring in Cathy Overton-Clapham as a last-minute spare. Despite the late shuffle, the rink persevered at the Masters to reach the final against Margaretha Sigfridsson of Sweden.

Sweeting had just 15 seconds left on the clock when she threw her last rock coming home to punch out Sigfridsson’s shot stone and secure the winning point for the 5-4 victory to capture her first career Grand Slam championship.

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“The Masters was just crazy last year! In a good way,” Sweeting said. “The season before was our first big break through, making the Trials and the Scotties final. And then we lost a player, but found a good new teammate and started building again, and then she left the team too. So it just felt like any time we were starting to get somewhere, things just fell apart. So it was pretty emotional!

“But when the Masters started, and we were on the arena ice and the crowd was cheering, it just felt normal again, sort of comforting I guess. And as the week went on and we were playing well and got the odd break here and there, things started to look up. We had some good games, fighting the time clock a couple times, but ended up winning it all. So the Masters is where things starting looking up. It made me think wow, finally, things went our way! That’s why you don’t give up.”

Sweeting said the Masters victory was a boost for them as they followed that up by winning the Canada Cup with new third Lori Olson-Johns.

“Having played a lot of the teams before, most at the Masters, we felt pretty confident going in,” Sweeting said. “And we were successful there too!”

They continue to click together both on and off the ice and it shows whether they’re celebrating a win, walking out to their entrance theme — “Bootylicious” by Beyonce — or just cycling through airports.

Team Sweeting enroute to Paradise @grandslamcurl #curlinglife #airportshenanigans pic.twitter.com/ptGvmHk3VA

— Team Sweeting (@SweetingTeam) September 7, 2015