There is no truth to the rumour that Rachelle Kallechy will change her last name to Van Osch in time for the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
It doesn鈥檛 mean she鈥檚 not going to be one of the family, however.
The Victoria Curling Club member has joined Kesa Van Osch鈥檚 Nanaimo based team as the fifth player on the sa国际传媒 and host representative rink for the national women鈥檚 curling championship which begins Friday at the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton.
This is believed to be the first time ever that three sisters have competed on the same Scotties team, although unconfirmed by Curling sa国际传媒 officials.
鈥淲ell I might [change her name], just to fit in,鈥� said a laughing Kallechy, who joins skip Kesa Van Osch, third Marika Van Osch, second Kalia Van Osch (who holds the broom for skip stones), lead Amy Gibson and coach Bill Tschirhat. 鈥淏ill actually made a joke [at a team sendoff] that I was at Victoria city hall changing my last name to Van Tschirhat.鈥�
On a more serious note, Kallechy is more than excited to be joining the foursome for the national competition, which will determine a winner to head to the world championship in North Bay, Ont., in mid-March.
鈥淚 am very excited and I was quite honoured when I received the phone call. It鈥檚 a nice, great bunch of girls and being mostly from the Island is nice, too,鈥� said Kallechy, referring to Gibson, who hails from the Vancouver area.
鈥淔irst, I received a friend request on Facebook and then I got a message saying, 鈥楬ey, do you have a phone number we can reach you at?鈥� So I knew right away,鈥� said Kallechy. 鈥淚 jumped on it right away. I鈥檇 be silly not to. You never know if it鈥檚 a once in a lifetime opportunity or not. This is the second-best thing [for a curler]. The best thing is winning your spot, but this is definitely second best.鈥�
Kesa Van Osch said the decision to add Kallechy was a good one.
鈥淲e were looking for someone with the same mentality that we have, because family is really important on our team,鈥� said the skip who is making her second appearance at the Scotties, taking a team that included third Steph Jackson-Baier, second Jessie Sanderson and lead Carly Sandwith of the VCC to a 6-5 record in 2015, tied for fifth, just outside the playoffs.
鈥淲e wanted someone who is easy going and will do whatever it takes. Everyone we talked to believed Rachelle is a good fit.鈥�
As for heading back to the Scotties, Van Osch is still in disbelief.
鈥淚t鈥檚 still a little bit unreal. It hasn鈥檛 really sunk in, but it will when we get there. It will be very exciting wearing the sa国际传媒 colours.鈥�
And as far as being there with two siblings, the eldest Van Osch is tickled.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really special that people are excited for us, maybe even more than we are. We鈥檙e going to have a lot of support throughout the event,鈥� she added, with parents Ed and Cindy among that group.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 be more proud,鈥� Kesa said right after winning provincials at the VCC. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e a bunch of amazing girls.鈥�
Team sa国际传媒 faces Team sa国际传媒 鈥� Michelle Englot鈥檚 team which replaces Rachel Homan who is heading to the Olympics 鈥� in the opening draw Saturday at 2 p.m. before tackling Nunavut鈥檚 Amie Shackleton and Robyn McPhee of P.E.I. on Sunday.
The event begins Friday night with the wild-card game between Chelsea Carey of Alberta and Kerri Einarson of Manitoba with the winner advancing into the 12-team competition.
Among the more well known rinks are Jennifer Jones of Manitoba (minus third Kaitlyn Jones, who will compete in mixed doubles at the Olympics), Saskatchewan鈥檚 Sherry Anderson, Nova Scotia鈥檚 Mary-Anne Arsenault, Kerry Galusha of Northwest Territories, Tracy Fleury of Northern Ontario, Sylvie Robichaud of N.B., and Casey Scheidegger of Alberta.
Scheidegger, like the Van Osch rink, features a family connection in her sister, second Jessie Scheidegger. Kortney and Krista Fesser also curl together for Saskatchewan and Chelsea and Jenna Duncan are teamed up for the Yukon.
Jones is likely the favourite (even minus Lawes, who is replaced by Shannon Birchard) among the field, which is a 16-team event for the first time in Scotties history. Jones would join Nova Scotia鈥檚 Colleen Jones as the only six-time Scotties champ.
The 16 teams are split into two pools of eight, based on their Canadian Team Ranking System standing as of Dec. 31 with the wild card winner seeded No. 4. Both Carey and Einarson are capable of winning the entire event.
Teams will play seven round-robin games within their pool, with the top four teams in each pool moving into the Championship Pool. The four teams from Pool A will then play the four teams from Pool B with the top four records (including the preliminary round) moving into the traditional Page playoffs.
Van Osch is seeded seventh and in a pool with Alberta, sa国际传媒, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, P.E.I., Quebec and Nunavut.
鈥淭he goal going in is to make that second round and once we achieve that, we鈥檒l set new ones. It鈥檚 the first time with the new format. We鈥檇 love to make playoffs, the top four, but our goal going in is second round,鈥� Van Osch said of her remaining Scotties rookie rink.
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
