MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — Nova Scotia skipper Taylour Stevens had one word to describe her team’s Wednesday morning victory at the Scotties, and she summed up the game perfectly: “Whew!” as she put it.
Her team had just gutted out an extra-ends win, 11-10, over B.C.’s Taylor Reese-Hansen, but the game really didn’t look like it was going to be all that close — until suddenly it was. Nova Scotia led 8-3 through six ends, then gave up back-to-back deuces and a whopping three in the 10th. That tied things up and forced an extra end, where Stevens — at last — scored the decisive single winning point.
“It was a little scary, to say the least,” the 25-year-old Stevens said with a smile, shortly after her team of Scotties rookies moved to an impressive 4-2 here. “The game just kept going!”
A couple of sheets over during Wednesday morning’s draw, so too did the game between Ontario and Quebec.
Ontario skipper Hailey Armstrong was staring down the ice in the 11th end, getting ready to take the game’s decisive shot while school kids at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre screamed, “Let’s go Ontario.” Armstrong picked out Quebec’s shot rock to earn the win, the kids screamed louder, and the skipper threw her broom in the air in victory. After hugging her teammates, Armstrong pounded her chest to mimic her fast-beating heart.
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Keep up with the Scotties Tournament of Hearts
The Scotties Tournament of Hearts runs from Jan. 23-Feb. 1 in Mississauga, Ont. Keep up with the scores and standings on Sportsnet.ca.
“A lot of pressure, heartbeat’s going,” Armstrong said of that game-winner, which led to an 8-5 victory that gives her Team Ontario a 4-2 record. “I’m just happy I had a hit, to be honest, and just picked it out.”
“It was a huge win,” added Ontario third, Grace Lloyd.
It was, and for both Ontario and Nova Scotia (Stevens). It means both teams are in control of their destiny here, and they’re each two wins away from making the playoffs. They’re in Pool A, where Kaitlyn Lawes’ undefeated Team Manitoba and Kerri Einarson’s 6-1 Team Canada — four-time winners here — have clinched the top two berths. That leaves one playoff spot still to be determined in the pool, and Nova Scotia (Stevens) and Team Ontario are set to play each other on Thursday night. If they both win Wednesday night, the winner on Thursday between Stevens and Armstrong gets the third playoff spot.
Thursday also happens to be Nova Scotia third Maria Fitzgerald’s 23rd birthday.
“I think she would cry happy tears if (a playoff berth) was her birthday gift,” Stevens said, grinning.
Fitzgerald agrees there. And while they’re so busy at the Scotties that she has been forgetting that it’s her birthday on Thursday, she does have a wish for her 23rd: “Get a win,” she said. “Just literally that.”
All the members of Team Nova Scotia (Stevens) — Alison Umlah and Fitzgerald’s older sister Cate make up the front end — own u-20 world championship titles, but they only got together this season as a foursome. Just Stevens has been to the Scotties before, back in 2024 as an alternate for Heather Smith, and Stevens didn’t play.
“We’re having so much fun,” Stevens said. “To play on this great ice and slide over those hearts is surreal every time, so I just love experiencing it, and with these girls.”
“This is everything that I could have dreamed of,” Fitzgerald added, pointing out she didn’t think she’d make it to the Scotties at such a young age, and alongside her older sister, and Stevens, who she calls “my second big sister.”
Their team set playoffs as the goal, and it’s within grasp, now a pair of wins away.
When coach Kevin Ouellette got the call to work with this team, he said it felt like he “won the lottery.”
“They’re energetic, they work hard, they’re willing to learn, and they’re a great team. The team dynamic is wonderful, and it’s just a pleasure,” the coach added, pointing out that Stevens is “a future champion.”
Ouellette said while the Wednesday morning game didn’t exactly go to plan — they were taking it to B.C., until suddenly they weren’t — he was encouraged by what he saw when the game got tight. “I’ve been telling the girls, there’s going to be times where we’re going to struggle, but good teams find ways to win, and we were able to find that one shot that we needed to,” he said.
The result is they’re in control of their fate: Two more wins, and Team Nova Scotia (Stevens) is into the playoffs at Canada’s national championship.
“We’re trucking along,” Fitzgerald said. “We are exactly where we want to be — but we’re not looking too far ahead. We’re just literally taking in every moment that we can. It’s been really amazing, and we don’t want it to end.”
