One of the biggest stories of the 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Penticton, British Columbia, has been the impressive play of Team Nova Scotia. Ranked 32nd in the Canadian Team Ranking System points, Arsenault has been extremely impressive at the Canadian national women’s championship.
Heading into Saturday’s page playoff action, Nova Scotia has a record of nine wins and two losses. However it is just not the fact she has beaten formidable teams that has been impressive. Arsenault has dominated them. Her wins include a 7-1 victory over reigning Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion Michelle Englot of Winnipeg 7-1, 8-3 wins over Lethbridge’s Casey Scheidegger and 2002 Scott Tournament of Hearts finalist Sherry Anderson of Saskatchewan, and 10-4 wins over British Columbia and home province fan favourite Kesa Van Osch, and playoff bound Tracy Fleury of Northern Ontario to begin the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Success for Arsenault is nothing new for her at the Scotties. It is just new for her as a skip. As the second for Colleen Jones, Arsenault won the 1999 Scott Tournament of Hearts in Charlottetown and then four consecutive titles from 2001 to 2004.
This is the fourth time that Arsenault has been the skip for Nova Scotia at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, and the 2018 result has been by far the best when Arsenault throws the last rock for her team every end. In 2008, she was 6-5, and in 2013 and 2015, she was 5-6.
Arsenault and Fleury (8-3) are joined in the page playoffs with the two pre-tournament favourites both from Winnipeg–2014 Canadian Olympic gold medalist Jennifer Jones (9-2) and 2016 Manitoba champion Kerri Einarson (9-2). In an interesting twist, all four teams that advanced to the Page Playoffs came from Pool A.
