Silvernagle, teammates remember Aly Jenkins

Stefanie Lawton’s thoughts were on a former opponent after her team won the Saskatchewan women’s curling championship Tuesday.

Lawton, the third on Robyn Silvernagle’s North Battleford-based team, was emotional as she remembered Aly Jenkins.

Jenkins, who formerly was the lead on Sherry Anderson’s team, died Oct. 20 of complications after giving birth to her third child. She was 30.

Silvernagle’s rink beat Anderson’s foursome 6-5 in the 2019 provincial final in Humboldt. The teams met again in the 2020 championship game, which Silvernagle won 8-5 at the Horizon Credit Union Centre in Melville.

That latter contest stirred up emotions for Lawton and the other curlers.

“I definitely thought a lot about Aly today and over this year,” Lawton, a mother of two, said as she fought back tears. “There’s definitely something that we’ll be thinking about.

“We think about her a lot. She means a lot to the curling world and, as a mother, it’s hard.”

Silvernagle agreed that the curlers had to contend with their emotions during the final — and during the tournament as a whole.

“Not everybody here is a mother but probably a lot of them will be at some point, so I think they can all relate,” Silvernagle said. “It’s definitely a tragedy and it was really tough. Everybody has a little piece of Aly playing.”

Kara Thevenot, who plays lead for Silvernagle, said the curlers miss Jenkins because she was a great person and a great competitor.

“She’d always take the time to talk to me and she has got a great family,” Thevenot said. “It’s definitely tough.

“We just wish her family all the best with the little ones because Scott (Aly’s husband) definitely has his hands full. But he has got a lot of good family around him to help.”

The Silvernagle team will wear Saskatchewan’s colours at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Feb. 15-23 in Moose Jaw.

Lawton said she and her teammates will be motivated by Jenkins’ memory during the Canadian women’s curling championship tournament.

“We’ll be thinking about her and working our hardest to represent Saskatchewan very well there because of her,” Lawton said.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray