Jocelyn Peterman in action in February 2020 (Photo from Twitter @TeamJJonesCurl)

By Troy Gillard and Josh Hall

tournament of hearts

Peterman ready for unique Scotties experience in Calgary bubble

Feb 16, 2021 | 8:30 AM

Forget the clichés, Red Deer’s Jocelyn Peterman and the rest of Team Manitoba just want to focus on winning at this year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

But it will no doubt be very different than any tournament they’ve ever competed in.

Peterman, the team’s second, along with Skip Jennifer Jones, Third Kaitlyn Lawes and Lead Lisa Weagle, make up Team Manitoba for the Scotties which gets going this Friday, Feb. 19 and runs through Feb. 28 in Calgary.

“We played a couple events in Ontario in October, then we were at an event in Okotoks when it got shut down. Four more were cancelled after that, so it’s been different preparing this time,” says Peterman, who’ll compete in her fifth Tournament of Hearts.

Her best result at the tournament was a gold in 2016 in Grande Prairie as a member of Chelsea Carey’s Team Alberta. She also has two bronze medals from the Scotties, in 2017 with Team Canada and last as a member of Team Manitoba.

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“We’ve been doing lots of Zoom calls, a lot more work in the gym than we’d normally do, we’re doing lots of sprints and trying to simulate sweeping,” she said of this year’s unique training regimen.

The foursome hasn’t been together on the ice in three months, partially due to COVID-19 restrictions and the fact they’re not all living in the same province.

“The protocols have kind of been changing on the fly as we‘re getting closer and they’re trying to make sure it’s as safe as possible,” Peterman says. “We’re trying to be flexible when we get information. We do a test before we fly and another the day we arrive. Then we can practice, but we’ll be isolating from each other for the first few days until a few more results come in.”

Practices and matches will culminate in team debriefings using virtual means from each other’s hotel rooms.

At the end of the day, however, Peterman says all teams are on a fairly level playing field.

“With different regulations across the provinces, some people have been able to play a season or play together. Regardless, we expect everyone to be playing well. We aren’t going into it hoping teams are rusty. We expect everyone will be in top form and we expect to play well ourselves.”

She adds that it’ll be great to have curling back on television and give the sport’s fans something to cheer about.

“My teammates are such veterans, so it’s not their first rodeo,” she adds. “I definitely expect we’ll come out firing.”

Team Manitoba plays its first game of the Scotties on Saturday versus Wildcard 1 (Tracy Fleury’s rink, skipped by Carey).

Following the Scotties, Peterman’s next competition will be the 2021 Home Hardware Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, also taking place in Calgary from March 18-25.

Peterman and teammate Brett Gallant – who’s also her fiancé – are the reigning champions from 2019 (last year’s tournament was wiped out by the pandemic). The pair also took silver representing Canada at the 2019 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship.