Sweeting's Sask. roots integral to her curling success

Team Saskatchewan couldn't crack a spot in the playoffs at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Moose Jaw — but there's some Saskatchewan blood still in the running for the curling championship.

Val Sweeting, who grew up in Maryfield, SK., plays third for Team Manitoba.

Their team, skipped by Kerri Einarson, will play in Saturday's 1-2 Page playoff game against Jennifer Jones' Wild Card team.

Sweeting currently lives in Vegreville, AB., but she said it's her Saskatchewan roots that instilled a love of curling in her.

At 13, she and her family uprooted to the Alberta town, near Edmonton. There wasn't much interest for the sport in her new town.

So, her parents made the hour-long drive into Edmonton so she could make it to matches.

"I owe a lot to them for sticking with it after we moved and keeping me in the sport," she said. "And from there I just never let it go. I just kept going and I'm fortunate it's brought me to some different places and had a lot of good experiences with it."

Sweeting is eligible to play for Team Manitoba — despite growing up in Saskatchewan and currently living in Alberta — because each team is allowed one out-of-province player.

The yellow-and-white Manitoba colours are a new look for Sweeting, who previously donned Alberta's blue-and-yellow as a skip at the Scotties, and Saskatchewan's green-and-white as a junior curler.

No matter where she goes on the prairies, she's sure to have some fans who've followed her through the years.

"To me, representing Manitoba is new, but it still represents everywhere I've been before and Vegreville included in that," Sweeting said. "I know it's a different logo on my back, but yeah, still happy to represent everyone back home."

The 1-2 Page playoff game starts at 6 p.m. CST. Before that, Team Ontario and Team Northern Ontario play in the 3-4 Page playoff game at 1 p.m. CST.

With files from Bryan Eneas