Funky odour and uncouth heckler no match for in-form Scheidegger at Scotties

SYDNEY, N.S. – A funky odour at one end of Centre 200 didn’t throw Casey Scheidegger off her game. Neither did a heckler who barked out a comment before her final throw.

The Team Wild Card skip from Lethbridge, Alta., took on the distractions with aplomb Wednesday night in a 7-4 win over Canada’s Jennifer Jones at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Midway through the game, Scheidegger’s team noticed an unpleasant smell drifting into the playing area at one end of Centre 200.

“It smelled like a sewer. At first I was like, ‘Someone is really nervous,’” Scheidegger said with a laugh. “I thought there was a bit of an issue but I don’t know. We all noticed it. It was smelly.”

In the 10th end, a spectator bellowed out a comment that Scheidegger also took in stride.

“With live crowds it’s always a bit of an unknown, things like that happen,” she said. “But the gentleman yelled out, ‘No pressure!, and I was like, ‘It is no pressure.’ So it was good.”

An arena official said the odour was due to a buildup of stagnant water in the building’s laundry area. The washing machines were flushed out and the issue was not expected to be a problem Thursday, he said.

Scheidegger led Pool B after the preliminary round with a 6-1 record.

The eight-team championship round begins Thursday afternoon and the final is set for Sunday.

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