Manitoba's Englot off to hot start at Scotties Tournament of Hearts

Three wins into the Canadian women's curling championship, Michelle Englot still felt weird about the buffalo on her back.

"I don't think it's going to wear off, really," the Manitoba skip said Sunday.

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After running Saskatchewan's house seven times at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts during her career, the 53-year-old from Regina is as surprised as anyone she's wearing the crest of her neighbour province.

Gaining an Olympic trials berth was top of mind for third Kate Cameron, second Leslie Wilson and lead Raunora Westcott when they sought a replacement for Kristy McDonald.

They were a strong team that lost last year's Manitoba final to Kerri Einarson, but McDonald wanted a break.

With her 43-34 career Hearts record and almost 30 years of competitive curling, Englot was the woman they called.

"She had a couple of things we wanted, which was someone with experience and someone who has done what we want to do," Cameron said.

"We wanted someone relatively close. We knew Manitoba didn't have the skip we needed that was available."

Englot's Regina team was going in different directions because of work and family commitments. Englot says she was encouraged to exchange green for yellow.

"They said I'd be crazy not to take the chance to play with an established team like this," she said. "It's exciting to play with these girls and they're so committed and talented.

"I feel like a rookie. It is like a rejuvenation."

Englot, Homan frontrunners

Manitoba and Ontario's Rachel Homan were the frontrunners Sunday at 3-0.

Defending champion Chelsea Carey, Northern Ontario's Krista McCarville, Alberta's Shannon Kleibrink, Stacie Curtis of Newfoundland and Labrador and Kerry Galusha of Northwest Territories were all deadlocked at 2-1.

Nova Scotia's Mary Mattatall and Quebec's Eve Belisle were 1-2 ahead of Prince Edward Island's Robyn MacPhee, B.C.'s Marla Mallett and Saskatchewan's Penny Barker at 0-3.

Carey edged MacPhee 8-7 in an extra end, Kleibrink downed Curtis 5-3, Galusha defeated Mattatall 8-6 and McCarville beat Barker 8-3 on Sunday evening.

The top four teams at the conclusion of the round robin Friday advance to the Page playoff. Ties for fourth are solved by tiebreaker games.

Englot faced her former province Sunday morning and prevailed 8-5 over Saskatchewan. Englot acknowledged the weirdness factor was high playing the team in colours she'd worn so many times at the Hearts.

"I'm glad we got it over with early in the week actually because then that's story is done and we can just move on," she said.

No backlash

Despite the Saskatchewan-Manitoba rivalry manifested mostly in the CFL, Englot said she didn't experience much backlash on social media for her switch.

"The buffalo is heavy," is a saying when it comes expectations of Manitoba curlers. That's where she saw raised eyebrows.

"I was asked what I was thinking going to the deepest province in women's curling," Englot said.

Her team beat reigning Olympic champion and seven-time Manitoba champion Jennifer Jones in a playoff game en route to a provincial title.

As curling becomes more professional, elite players switch teams more often. Residency rules were previously left to each respective province or territory.

There was occasionally a loose interpretation of what constituted living there.

Curling Canada intervened in 2015 to declare teams could carry "one non-resident outside of the Member Association they choose to represent, but the other three players will be subject to stricter proof-of-residency rules."

Englot skipping Manitoba this year is a dramatic by-product of that ruling, but Jones no longer lives in Manitoba. She resides in Ontario.

"There's a lot of people that use it, but I think it's more prominent because it's our skip," Cameron said.

"A lot of players are seconds, leads and thirds, so it's not as noticeable. [Englot] doesn't live in Manitoba. She lives in Regina and works there."

Men tend to be more nomadic than women in the sport, Englot said.

"It's particularly hard for women to move," she explained. "I'm lucky where I'm at a point in my career and my life where my kids are grown and self-sufficient. I was able to do this."

Adam Casey, who lives in Winsloe, P.E.I., will skip Saskatchewan and Calgary's John Morris is back calling the shots for B.C. at next month's Canadian men's curling championship in St. John's, N.L.

Nunavut will be skipped 61-year-old Nova Scotia resident Jim Nix.