Meet the other Ottawa curling team at this year’s Scotties

When the action gets underway at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts today, Ottawa will be well represented on the ice — even more so than in previous years.

Unsurprisingly, the Rachel Homan rink will be there, making their 10th appearance in Canada’s national women’s curling championship.

But this time around, there’s a different local team representing Ontario.

The Danielle Inglis foursome, which curls out of the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club, won the provincial championships last month, securing their first ever berth at the Scotties. 

They didn’t actually have to beat Homan — a former world champion and one of Canada’s most accomplished curlers — in the tournament, as Homan’s rink had already qualified for the Scotties as a wild card.

“I honestly just think it’s exciting to be in the same category as Team Homan,” said Calissa Daly, who throws second stones for Inglis, in a recent interview with CBC Radio’s Ottawa Morning.

“I’ve obviously admired them since I started curling … it’s exciting to be at a similar calibre as those amazing athletes.”

Ranked 6th in Canada

Over the next week, 18 teams from across the country will be competing at the Canada Olympic Park in Calgary for the right to represent Canada at the world championships next month in Nova Scotia.

The Inglis rink comes into the Scotties ranked sixth in the country. The Homan team, which curls out of the Ottawa Curling Club, is currently ranked number one.

Daly told Ottawa Morning how she took up the sport as a young girl with her brother, after he had a non-fatal heart attack and was diagnosed with a rare familial disorder known as arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, or ARVD.

“I think with my personality, it was never not going to be competitive,” said Daly, who also has the condition.

“From the start, I was fantasizing about everything I could possibly do, whether it be the Scotties, whether it be the Olympics.”

‘All on the same page’

For lead Cassandra de Groot, the Scotties qualification marks the pinnacle of a decade’s worth of curling with Inglis.

“Danielle and I in the past had made it to provincial semifinals, finals. We knew what it took to get to the final, but we really needed to take it to the next level,” she said.

“And I think [our current team is] just all on the same page with where our goals are, with our work ethic, with our ambition.”

They’ll soon find out if that hard work has paid off, as they take to the ice Saturday afternoon for their first match against British Columbia’s Clancy Grandy. (The Homan rink, meanwhile, takes on Kerry Galusha of the Northwest Territories at the same time.)

The two Ottawa teams then square off Sunday against each other.

“I think there’s so much tradition built into the Scotties,” said Daly. “Having grown up watching the Scotties from the stands, or at home on TV — just to be a part of it, and the tradition, is huge.”