Meet the teams: Nova Scotia

The 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts is slated for Feb. 17-26 at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops, B.C. Eighteen women’s teams will compete in the national curling championship. Meet the teams:

Team Nova Scotia

Christina Black knew her chance at a Wild Card spot went out the proverbial window when Kaitlyn Lawes lost her provincial semifinal in Manitoba.

So there was no other option but to win the Nova Scotia berth to advance to the 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. The No. 9-ranked team on the Canadian Team Ranking System, Black and her crew of vice-skip Karlee Everist (who throws second), third Jenn Baxter and lead Shelley Barker downed Tanya Hilliard 9-4 to earn the trip to Kamloops.

The Dartmouth Curling Club crew heads west with alternate Carole MacLean and coach Stuart MacLean and the west has been good for Black.

Black, with four previous appearances, and Baxter, with six, have experience at the national championship. Along with MacLean, who was an alternate, the trio won bronze in 2018 in Penticton, B.C., curling for veteran skip Mary-Anne Arsenault. Penticton is just a stone’s throw away from Kamloops, so maybe fate is on the team’s side.

Barker and Everist also competed with this same crew at the 2022 Scotties where the team finished 5-3 before being eliminated in the championship round by Team Krista McCarville. 

Tickets for the 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts can be purchased at https://www.curling.ca/2023scotties/tickets/