YORKTON - The Nancy Martin foursome will carry the Saskatchewan colours at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts from Feb. 14-23 in Thunder Bay, Ont.
Martin and her Saskatoon Nutana Curling Club squad — featuring third Chaelynn Stewart, second Kadriana Lott, lead Deanna Doig and alternate Colleen Ackerman -- claimed the Viterra Prairie Pinnacle with a 9-7 win in the championship game in Kindersley over Jolene Campbell and her Regina rink.
For Martin it was redemption of sorts after being the runner-up in 2023 and 2024.
“I’m super proud of the girls,” said Martin in a recent Yorkton This Week interview. “It’s a little surreal.”
As is the case with many athlete’s it has been a long, and in her case somewhat winding path, to the pinnacle of provincial success.
“I probably started when I was 12,” she said, adding she hasn’t always stayed focused on the sport. “Over the years I’ve been in and out of curling.”
It was while in a small community in Alberta Martin said she found her way back to curling as a way to meet people, and then upon returning to Saskatchewan she was looking “for something for myself” and curling was the natural thing to pursue in a more competitive fashion.
“I’ve put a lot of work in. . . It’s been an amazing journey,” she said, adding that is one amazing aspect of curling. “You can learn it young, get away from it then go back to it.”
As amazing as Martin’s personal journey in curling has been to-date, arguably the biggest step in the journey lies just ahead as she skips her own rink at Canadians.
In that respect Martin, and at least some of her team, have some previous experience to draw upon.
It will be the second career trip for Martin and Stewart after playing alongside skip Sherry Anderson in 2021 while it will also be the second for Doig, who played with Penny Barker in 2017.
In addition, Lott, a Manitoba product and 2024 Canadian Mixed Doubles champion who only joined the Martin team a season ago, will be making her Scotties debut.
Martin said she and Stewart have “become very close” as teammates and that is an asset.
It should help in Thunder Bay that Anderson will be there as the team’s coach, a situation Martin said will have a definite calming effect on the team given the wealth of curling knowledge the long-time curler turned coach for the Scotties brings to the team.
So how does Martin expect the team to approach the Scotties event?
Well, the team has a background in mixed doubles curling Martin herself teaming with Steven Laycock – originally from Saltcoats and the recent runner-up at the men’s provincials.
“Because of our mixed doubles background we’re all very offensive players,” said Martin. “So we go pretty hard. We don’t like to blank an end.”
Martin said obviously in-game situations ultimately determine what to do, but they generally want to keep the pressure on their opponents.
That was their philosophy in the provincial win where Martin said they felt “our best chance was to just push,” aiming to be as offensive as possible every end.
At the Scotties Martin said initially they might take it a little more conservatively, but only to get comfortable.
“For a couple of ends we may keep it clean to get our legs,” she said, but ultimately they will have to be true to their offensive philosophy. “. . . We believe if we play well we have the best chance. We’ll just try to play our best.”
In related curling news CurlSask has announced Melville will host the 2026 SaskTel Tankard and Viterra Prairie Pinnacle in a similar joint format to the 2025 championship with both the men’s and women’s events being held at the same time.
