WHEN the dust finally settles at the 2012 Scotties B.C. Women's Curling Championships - running Jan. 23-29 at the North Shore Winter Club - we may finally know which spelling of Kell(e)y is better.
Rinks skipped by former world champions Kelly Scott and Kelley Law headline the tournament, leading organizers to dub it the "Battle of the Kellys."
"It's going to be a horse race," said Liz Goldenberg, director of curling at the Winter Club. "I have a feeling towards the end of the week (Kelly and Kelley) are going to be tied. It's going to be interesting."
The winner of the event will get to represent British Columbia at the national championships, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts scheduled for Feb. 18-26 in Red Deer, Alta. Both Kelly and Kelley are familiar with that type of stage.
Kelowna native Scott is the two-time defending B.C. champ, having beaten Law in the final in both 2010 and 2011. Scott won back-to-back national titles in 2006-07, going on to win world championship bronze in 2006 and gold in 2007.
Law, who represents New Westminster's Royal City Curling Club, won both the Canadian and world championships in 2000 before finishing first at the Canadian Olympic trials in 2001 to earn a spot at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games where her team earned bronze.
While Kelly and Kelley are getting all the headlines, there will be other great rinks fighting for top spot. Goldenberg made special note of Roselyn Craig's Vancouver Island team. Craig was on a team that won gold at the 2011 World Senior Curling Championships. This week she'll be calling all the shots for her much younger teammates while throwing second stones.
"Here you've got grandma Ros," said Goldenberg with a laugh. "That's sort of a little twist on all the young females out there."
Two other recent provincial champs - Allison MacInnes won in 2008 and Marla Mallett in 2009 - are also in the field.
"It's going to be great curling all week long," said Goldenberg. "We've got some great teams. There are teams coming in that are dark horses - it's their first time in the championships so nobody is quite sure where they're going to end up."
The action begins with Draw 1 Monday morning at 10: 30 a.m. The opening ceremony is scheduled for Monday evening starting at 5 p.m. and will be followed by Draw 2.
During Tuesday morning's Draw 3 all eyes will be on Sheet C where Scott will meet Law in a round-robin matchup. Round robin play will continue with two draws daily until Friday morning. Tiebreakers and playoffs will be played Friday and Saturday with the tournament final scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 29 at 4 p.m. Upstairs lounge and ice-level grandstand tickets are still available, said Goldenberg, but they are limited and going fast.
The sport of curling received quite a boost in the Lower Mainland when it became a fan favourite at the 2010 Winter Games, said Goldenberg.
"(The Olympics) created a great deal of awareness," she said. "A lot of people couldn't get tickets to anything else so they got tickets to the curling. It was an Olympic thing so you go anyway, it doesn't matter if you don't know what the sport is about. . . . What happened was they went to it and they said, 'Wow, this is really interesting.'"
To purchase tickets and get updated tournament information visit bcscotties2012. curlbc.ca.
