Tim Hortons Curling Trials Profile: Team McCarville

With the Tim Hortons Curling Trials quickly approaching, TSN.ca will profile one men’s team and one women’s team each day before the first rocks fly on Nov. 20 at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

Team Krista McCarville

The Lineup

Skip: Krista McCarville (Age 38)
Third: Kendra Lilly (30)
Second: Ashley Sippala (34)
Lead: Sarah Potts (32)
Coach: Rick Lang (67)

Curling Club: Fort William Curling Club in Thunder Bay

2021-22 Season

Events: 3 (1 win)
Record: 13-3
CTRS Ranking: 22

Highlights: Even for their standards, Team McCarville have had a lighter than usual schedule over the past two seasons due to the pandemic, with the highlight coming in Liverpool and their A-side win at the Pre-Trials. Earlier this season, McCarville and company failed to qualify for the playoffs at the KW Fall Classic. They are also regulars on the Thunder Bay Major League of Curling circuit.

How They Got Here

Qualified for the Tim Hortons Curling Trials by beating Jacqueline Harrison in the A-side final at the Home Hardware Curling Pre-Trials in Liverpool, N.S., in late October.

Trials Schedule

Nov. 20 – Jennifer Jones
Nov. 21 – Rachel Homan, Casey Scheidegger
Nov. 22 – Tracy Fleury
Nov. 23 – Jacqueline Harrison
Nov. 24 – Kerri Einarson
Nov. 25 – Kelsey Rocque, Laura Walker
Nov. 26 – Off Day

Expert Analysis's from TSN's Cheryl Bernard

Team McCarville will win the Trials if…

"This team could potentially challenge for a spot in the Top 10 in the world rankings if they played more events and they always seems to find themselves in the playoff hunt at the Scotties. Team McCarville’s best chance at the Trials is to find ways to scrape some wins together early by not taking too many chances until they settle in and are comfortable with reading the lines and weight, because once Krista McCarville has a good read and good feel on the ice, this team becomes very difficult to beat."

Trials Experience

Krista McCarville’s foursome from Northern Ontario competed together at one previous Olympic Trials, posting a .500 record of 4-4 and missing the playoffs by just one game in 2017. McCarville had the second-best shooting percentage amongst skips at 82.4 per cent, only behind the winning skip in Rachel Homan.

Team McCarville earned their spot at those Trials in similar fashion as they qualified via the A-side at the Pre-Trials a few weeks prior.

In 2009, McCarville was skipping an entirely different rink which included third Tara George, second Kari MacLean-Kraft and lead Lorraine Lang. They advanced to the Olympic Trials in Edmonton that year after qualifying via the B-side at the Pre-Trials.

At the time, McCarville had three appearances at the national championship under her belt and carried that experience to the Trials, finishing round-robin play with a 4-3 record, good enough for the third and final playoff spot. In the semifinals, McCarville lost a 10-5 decision to Shannon Kleibrink.

Last Four Years

The current version of Team McCarville has been intact since McCarville’s return to curling in 2015 after a brief hiatus.

Despite playing a very limited schedule on Tour, McCarville’s crew has become one of the best teams in women’s Canadian curling, thanks in large part to their performances at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Team McCarville have qualified for nationals in 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020, making the final four each time with a total record of 34-19.

The foursome’s best result came in 2016 when they advanced to the championship game but lost to Chelsea Carey in a close 7-6 affair.

Over their next three appearances at the Canadian championship, provincial rival Team Rachel Homan were their biggest nemesis as the rink from the Ottawa Curling Club eliminated Team McCarville each time in the playoffs.

Team McCarville received an invite to compete as Northern Ontario at last year’s Scotties but declined due to personal reasons concerning the pandemic.

The 2022 Scotties is taking place in their hometown of Thunder Bay. However, McCarville will not be there if all goes according to plan at the Tim Hortons Curling Trials.

After McCarville’s most recent Scotties’ playoff loss in 2020, McCarville mused ‘when is my time?’ Will that answer come in Saskatoon for the 38-year-old school teacher?