Krista McCarville hopes for Scotties success, feels 'this is the team' that can win it all

With the start of the 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts just days away, Thunder Bay's Krista McCarville is hopeful this will be her year.

The McCarville rink — which also includes Kendra Lilly, Ashley Sippala, Sarah Potts, and coach Rick Lang — earned a spot in this year's Scotties with a win at last month's Northern Ontario Curling Association playdowns, earning the new designation of Team Northern Ontario in the process.

This will be McCarville's 10th time playing in the national women's curling championships. However, through all those appearances, the gold medal has eluded her (althuogh she's come close, with two silvers and one bronze to her name).

But McCarville is hopeful the 2023 Scotties will be a bonspiel to remember.

"I'm really hopeful," McCarville told CBC News on Tuesday. "These girls that I curl with, we've been together for a long time, and I feel like this is the team."

"We meshed together so well," she said. "We get along so well."

"We've made some changes this year with a few different things, and I'm really hopeful that these changes are gonna make us take that extra step, and get that gold medal."

While the turnaround time was quick — there were just over two weeks between the end of the northern Ontario playdowns and the start of the Scotties — McCarville and her team prepared as much as they could.

"We feel really good," McCarville said. "We try to practice as much as we can, but we also have to do a little bit of life balance, because we all have full-time jobs and we have children and families to worry about as well."

And that preparation will no doubt come in handy, as the McCarville rink has a tough schedule.

Their first game is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Saturday, when McCarville's team will