It is tough enough to get out of Saskatchewan when it comes to women’s curling.  The path to the Scotties got that much tougher on Wednesday morning when it was announced Chelsea Carey was coming into the province to join the Jolene Campbell team.

Carey, who was a player without a team after it disbanded following the 2020 season, will join Campbell, Stephanie Schmidt, Jennifer Armstrong and Rachel Erickson to form a five-woman team much like the Jennifer Jones team did this past season.

Carey has won the Scotties twice and has represented both Manitoba, Alberta and Canada.  She was also a Team Wildcard skip at the 2021 Scotties in the Calgary bubble as she replaced Tracy Fleury who didn’t want to participate so she could care for her daughter.

On Thursday afternoon Carey joined the SportsCage to discuss her decision and the move to Saskatchewan.

She said usually recruitments begin with a simple informal conversation.

“Is there a sales pitch involved and different things, sure, as far as how much you want to play, which events you want to play in, if somebody has a major sponsorship or something, obviously that’s a factor, but yeah mostly you’re just like. ‘Hey I think you’re pretty good, maybe we should consider playing together?’ Then they’ll say yes or no and you move on from there,” Carey said.

Being from Manitoba and then liven in Alberta this will technically be the first time Carey is considered an import player.