Sam Fisher joined an exclusive club on Monday, reeling in her first victory at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
The Team B.C. rink that includes skip Corryn Brown, third Erin Pincott, second Dezaray Hawes and lead Fisher thumped Nunavut 11-2 to improve to 1-2 at the women’s national curling championship in Calgary.
“It feels good to finally get that first win,” Fisher said. “Hopefully, it should sharpen up from here.”
Nunavaut dropped to 0-4.
Fisher, who grew up playing with the Brown rink, hit pause on her curling career after the 2017-2018 campaign to focus on studies at Thompson Rivers University.
She was replaced by Ashley Klymchuk, who threw first for Team Brown last year at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Moose Jaw.
Klymchuk left the Kamloops Curling Club quartet following the 2019-2020 season and gave birth to twins in September.
Fisher returned to the fold, but plans to ease her way back into competitive action were pre-empted by the pandemic.
The team's season came to an abrupt halt on Nov. 12 and did not resume until the national championship began last week.
Brown spoke to KTW following her team’s second loss at the Scotties, a 14-5 defeat to Jennifer Jones and Manitoba on Sunday.
“It could come down to the lack of reps, but everyone is in the same position, so we definitely can’t be using that as an excuse,” Brown said.
“We might not have nailed down what each other needs, with adding a new player and what not. We’ve had some really good conversations to, hopefully, figure some of that out and be bit more precise.”
The victory on Monday gives the team a much-needed boost of confidence.
“Trying to find my spot on the team again can be a little bit tricky, at times,” Fisher said. “Just [learning] what each player needs from the other players, what Corryn needs when she’s coming down into the hack, what support Dez needs as another sweeper, that sort of thing.
“I just worked out a few kinks in that first game [9-5 loss to Quebec] and I seem to have found my spot on the team again.”
Pool B standings as of Monday afternoon: Quebec (3-1), Wild Card No. 1 (3-1), P.E.I. (3-1), Saskatchewan (2-1), Newfoundland and Labrador (2-1), Manitoba (2-2), B.C. (1-2), New Brunswick (0-3) and Nunavut (0-4).
The top four teams after round-robin action will carry their records into the Championship Pool, from which three playoff teams will emerge.
B.C. has two pivotal games slated for Tuesday — 7:30 a.m. against Wild Card No. 1 and 5:30 p.m. versus Newfoundland and Labrador.
“It was nice to get the monkey off our backs,” Pincott said. “We haven’t been that far off, to be honest. We’ve been been building every game, but just maybe not capitalizing or making those key shots. We did that today.”
