Sudbury curler ready to compete at the Scotties with Team Manitoba

A curler from Sudbury is going to compete at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts but she won't be playing on team northern Ontario.

Tracey Fleury is the skip of Team Manitoba. That team, which is made of of lead Kristin MacCuish, second Liz Fyfe, and third Selena Njegovan, just won the provincial championships securing a spot in the national Scotties tournament.

Fleury says a few years ago, the rules changed allowing teams to have one out of province athlete. She says last year, her former team decided to go their separate ways.

"It was going well. We were getting along really well," she said.

"But it was just a matter of people wanting to slow down a little bit."

She first considered taking some time off but then heard the team in Manitoba was looking at making some changes. She reached out to the players, and a new team was created.

Fleury is based in Sudbury and admits it can be challenging to practice with her team, who are all based in Winnipeg.

"It's a lot of practicing on our own," she said.

"I have gone to Winnipeg a couple of times for some team training, but it's a lot of just keeping in touch and then meeting up at our competitions and making sure we're practicing on our own."

Fleury says it was a tough competition to win the Manitoba provincial championships.

'Excited' for the Scotties

"I'd say the quality of teams was about the same as northern Ontario, it's just the difference with Manitoba is the quantity of teams," she said.

"There's so many of those good teams, so that makes it a little bit tougher when you're trying to make your way to the final.

Fleury says she's ready for the Scotties, despite being the only northern Ontario player on her team.

"I'll always be a northern Ontario girl [as] I still practice and train in Sudbury," she said.

"It'll be different for me wearing the Manitoba colours at the national but [I'm] just really excited to get back to the Scotties and see what we can do there."

The Scotties take place in Sydney, N.S., between Feb. 16-24.