YORKTON - Saskatchewan will send a new champion to represent the province at the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
When the last rock had been delivered at the recent Viterra Scotties Tournament of Hearts provincial women’s curling championship in Tisdale the Skylar Ackerman-lead foursome would emerge the champions.
Local Yorkton curling fans will be familiar with the 22-year-old Ackerman out of Moose Jaw and her Saskatoon teammates Ashley Thevenot, Taylor Stremick and Kaylin Skinner also topped the recent Sask Curling Tour's Men's and Women's Players Championship event hosted by the Yorkton Curling Club.
In Tisdale Ackerman squared off in the final against Martensville’s Nancy Martin as a game which is likely to be remembered as a classic – albeit a high scoring one.
Martin hung a three in the eighth end and looked to be in control, but Ackerman said her squad stayed focused.
“We had a really good chat between ends,” Ackerman told Yorkton This Week. “We just focused on nine.”
And, it worked, as Ackerman scored three in the ninth to inch ahead 9-8.
Martin was not through though. They scored a single in the 10th, sending the final to an extra end where Ackerman finally secured a 10-9 win.
“The whole game was really back and forth,” said Ackerman.
The win was what the Ackerman team had been focused on all season.
“It was our goal from the beginning of the season to win this event,” she said.
At 22, Ackerman is young, and she knows that means she is still learning, even as she is headed to the Scotties.
“We don’t have the experience,” she said – although Ackerman served as an alternate for Robyn Silvernagle’s rink last year in B.C. She added “The Scotties will definitely be the biggest event any of us have played in.”
That said it is something they have still long wanted.
“We’ve all been dreaming of going to the Scotties wearing the green jacket,” said Ackerman.
So how does Ackerman plan to take on the pressures of a national final against the best women curlers in the country.
“We just want to trust the process and try and stay in the moment, and not be too distracted by the event,” she said.
To help the team stay grounded the team will have the help of Skylar’s father Patrick who coaches the rink.
Ackerman said it’s great to have her father there with her, right on the ice where he can impart knowledge about the game as needed.
Ackerman said the team plays best when they just go out and have fun because at the end of the day they all just love the sport of curling.
That will be their approach in Calgary.
“It doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of pressure because it’s our first time and we are a young team,” said Ackerman.
The Scotties Tournament of Hearts begins Feb. 16, in Calgary.
