Sandra Schmirler Day has personal connection with Silvernagle in return to Scotties

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – Robyn Silvernagle spent her Sunday at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts answering phone calls for the Sandra Schmirler Telethon and playing the game she loves on the national stage.

It was a shift back to normalcy for the Saskatchewan skip after a couple trying years off the ice.  

The last time curling fans saw Silvernagle at the Scotties was in Moose Jaw, Sask., in 2020. The curler out of the Twin Rivers Curling Club in North Battleford put together her second consecutive strong performance at the Canadian championship that year, posting a 7-5 record which was good enough to get her side into the championship pool.

Since then, a lot has changed for the 35-year-old.

“It’s amazing. It’s so much fun,” Silvernagle remarked on her return to the Tournament of Hearts. “I think I just appreciate it that much more with everything. It puts everything into perspective, and I think you enjoy those little moments a little extra."

In September of 2021 Silvernagle and her husband Chad welcomed their first child, Kolt, to the world.

Now 16-months-old, Kolt is doing much better and is here this week in Kamloops at Sandman Centre cheering on his Mom and Team Saskatchewan at the Tournament of Hearts.

But the road to get here wasn’t easy for the Silvernagle family.

Kolt was born with a detached esophagus and had several bouts with pneumonia in his early months. He underwent eight surgeries, including heart surgery which kept him in hospital for 304 days, most of which was spent in intensive care. With COVID-19 restrictions, Robyn and Chad were the only ones who could spend time with him in hospital.

“He’s a trooper,” said Silvernagle. “It’s amazing to have him here and have the option for him to come to the rink.” 

Sunday marks the 21st annual Sandra Schmirler Day at the Tournament of Hearts as the telethon raises money to help purchase life-saving equipment for babies born prematurely.

The day has always been special for Silvernagle since she shares the same hometown of Biggar, Sask., with Schmirler, the legendary curler who died at the age of 36 in 2000 following a battle with cancer.

Now it means even more.

“The Sandra Schmirler Foundation has been a huge part in our journey,” Silvernagle said. “We know that lots of the equipment that Kolt used was donated from that [Sandra Schmirler Foundation]. We encourage everyone to donate to the Sandra Schmirler Foundation.”

With her baby spending so much time in intensive care, curling obviously was not front of mind for Silvernagle.

Silvernagle played a very limited schedule including Saskatchewan playdowns last season, but didn’t know what her curling future looked like going into this season after her team disbanded.

After a few discussions with her good friend and former teammate Kara Thevenot - the pair won the bronze medal together at the 2019 Scotties in their first appearance – it was determined nothing could be lost by throwing a team together for playdowns last month.

 “Kara and I had be talking, kind of joking around because we’ve curled together for a long time,” Silvernagle explained. “We’re were just joking around back when I was like ‘I’m not curling this season’ and we were like ‘who knows, maybe we’ll throw a team together for playdowns.’ As time got closer, we were like ‘are we doing this or not.’ So, we did it.”

Team Silvernagle, including third Kelly Schafer, second Sherry Just and lead Thevenot, got their team together within the deadline and practiced together just once before competing in a last-chance qualifier in early January.

At provincials in North Battleford, Silvernagle and company turned the tide after an opening loss to run the table, highlighted by an 8-4 win over Team Nancy Martin in the final.

“It’s been a wild ride. With throwing ourselves together as a team at the last minute and then having a rough start of playdowns,” she Silvernagle. “We almost lost two in a row, and we were like ‘oh, oh we might be going home here.’

It doesn’t hurt when you can add a player of Schafer’s experience to the squad. The 41-year-old Scot, who know lives in Swift Current, Sask., has represented Great Britain at the Winter Olympics in 2006 and 2010 and has made five appearances at the Women’s World Curling Championships, skipping Scotland to silver in 2010.

“She’s just like a calming influence. She’s feisty, but yet she knows how to calm me down if I get up tight,” Silvernagle said of Schafer “I know she’s going to make the big ones when it matters.”

Going into Sunday’s action at the Scotties, Saskatchewan holds a 1-1 record with a win over Alberta and a loss to Nova Scotia.