They have been waiting for a year.
Now, finally, they're back where they want to be -- at the B.C. Scotties Tournament of Hearts women's provincial curling championship.
At last year's Scotties, Jennifer Fewster and rinkmates Kristen Fewster, Blaine Richards and Amber Cheveldave rolled to a 6-3 record in round robin and finished third in a field of 10 teams. In a semifinal playoff, they lost 7-3 to defending champion Marla Mallett.
Fewster and her Prince George Golf and Curling Club playing partners reached those impressive heights in their first year together. Collectively, they were also the youngest team at the 2010 provincials.
So yes, with all the promise they showed, they can't wait for another crack at a B.C. title this year. The first game for the Fewster rink is today at noon at the Cloverdale Curling Club. The opening-draw opponent will be Rosalyn Craig of Duncan. Tonight, at 7:30, Fewster will throw against Jill Winters of Nelson.
Naturally, Fewster will be looking for a fast start.
"It always makes the week easier to start off with a few really strong games and get on a roll early," said the 26-year-old skip. "We're kind of keeping our attitude and mentality the same as last year -- it's one game at a time and each game is as important as the next. We've been working pretty hard this year to bring our level of play up and I think that we've reached that point so we're really looking forward to just going in there and giving some of our best games."
The improvements made by the Fewster foursome are technical in nature.
"Last year, I felt like we were making a lot of adjustments, so every week we were trying something new out and then it just kind of all came together at the end of the year, right around provincials," Fewster said. "This year, we've just been able to focus a lot more on execution. We've got all those technical kinks worked out so we can really just get out there and play."
Fewster has not played against Craig or Winters this season. She is familiar, however, with the skip of the Craig rink, Sarah Wark.
"We basically grew up playing against her," Fewster said. "We've known her for years. That's kind of the way it is with all the teams that we haven't played as a team before -- there's a player or two that we've known for years, so nobody is really unknown to us there."
Perhaps the most high-profile rinks at provincials are the ones skipped by Kelowna's Kelly Scott and New Westminster's Kelley Law. Both are former Canadian and world champions. In last year's B.C. final, Scott defeated Law 8-4.
Other rinks taking aim at a B.C. title this week are led by Prince George's Patti Knezevic, Nicole Backe (Nanaimo), Kristy Lewis (Richmond), Adina Tasaka (New Westminster) and Karla Thompson (Kamloops).
Round-robin games will wrap up on Friday morning. The B.C. champion will be determined Sunday afternoon.
