Kelly Scott has been looking forward to another opportunity to get to the Winter Olympics since 2005.

Four years ago, the 32-year-old skip from Winnipeg came as close as any curler could get to representing her country in the international event. Scott, third Jeanna Schraeder, second Sasha Carter and lead Renee Simons lost 8-7 to Calgary’s Shannon Kleibrink in the final of the Olympic trials. Kleibrink’s rink went on to capture bronze at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

Since her heartbreaking loss in December 2005 in Halifax, Scott’s sights have been set on Vancouver 2010.

With the 100-day countdown to the Vancouver Winter Games underway and the first Olympic-related qualifying tournament running next week at CN Centre, Scott’s reached her time to shine in the spotlight.

One of 12 female skips leading their respective teams into the Road to the Roar Olympic pre-trials event running next Tuesday to Saturday at CN Centre, Scott hopes the path towards living her Olympic dreams leads her to the Roar of the Rings Olympic trials Dec. 6 to 13 in Edmonton. The top four teams in the Prince George event will qualify to join four pre-determined qualifiers in Edmonton. That pool of eight will compete to represent the host country at the 2010 Olympics.

In 2005, Scott’s squad finished 7-2 in getting a bye into the Olympic trials final. Kleibrink defeated Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton in a semi-final to advance.

“Those experiences are tough at the time. They can kind of make or break you, but we just keep coming back for more and when you put in enough time, you’re going to have some great results and some that kind of sting you a little,” Scott said. “Those are just motivating factors and certainly this time with the Olympics being right in Vancouver, it’s kind of the pinnacle of it all so we’ll give it everything we have this time around.”

Since getting painfully close to the 2006 Olympics, Scott won her first and second national championships, in 2006 and 2007. The squad also took home an international title by winning gold at the 2007 world championships.

Last season, the squad struggled. Missing out on the Scotties Tournament of Hearts for the first time since 2004, they decided to go in a new direction. In May, they added Jacquie Armstrong of Vancouver to fill a lead position previously occupied by Simons. Simons had been a member of the Kelowna Curling Club foursome since the team’s inception in 2002.

“It’s working out really well. We put a lot of time into the team dynamic over the course of the summer months, so when we finally got our curling ice in September, we were able to then just focus on the curling side of things,” Scott said. “We’re happy with where we’re at and things have really kind of gelled kind of quickly for us. Certainly we’re winning our fair share of games out in the tournaments so that helps you to gel that much quicker.”

As a final tune-up before the pre-trials, Scott and her teammates competed in the Colonial Square Ladies Classic in Saskatoon on the weekend. They made it to the quarter-final round of an event featuring top teams from Canada and Europe. On Oct. 26 in Winnipeg, they celebrated a tournament championship after defeating Winnipeg skip Jennifer Jones 5-4 in the final of the Manitoba Lotteries Women’s Curling Classic.

Jones is one of four skips whose team qualified directly to the Olympic trials. The other teams are led by Kleibrink (Calgary), Cheryl Bernard (Calgary) and Lawton (Saskatoon).

Scott said they began their 2009-10 season on Sept. 20, a week earlier than usual. They’ve only taken one weekend off since then, and the majority of their practicing has been in the form of games during competitions.

“We’ve played in five tournaments so far, and our goal was to play in that many so that we would get lots of games under our belts and feel like we were kind of like mid-season form, even though it’s early November,” Scott said. “We’re feeling good. We’re not feeling like we’re burnt out or anything. We’re feeling ready and prepared. With each tournament we’re playing, we feel like we’re getting a little bit better each time around.”

The Scott team is scheduled to leave Kelowna for Prince George on Monday morning. They open their schedule on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m., playing the winner of a first-round match between Cathy King of Edmonton and Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay. Other skips leading their respective teams into CN Centre for the Road to the Roar are: Sherry Middaugh (Coldwater, Ont.), Marie-France Larouche (St-Romuald, Que.), Michelle Englot (Regina), Heather Rankin (Calgary), Rachel Homan (Ottawa), Crystal Webster (Calgary), Amber Holland (Kronau, Sask.), Eve Belisle (Montreal) and Sherry Anderson (Saskatoon).

Women’s teams which qualified directly for Edmonton are led by Jones, Shannon Kleibrink (Calgary), Cheryl Bernard (Calgary) and Stephanie Lawton (Saskatoon).

CN Centre is also playing host to the 12-team men’s pre-trials event. The four male squads which have secured berths for the Roar of the Rings are led by Edmonton skips Kevin Martin, Randy Ferbey and Kevin Koe, and Glenn Howard of Coldwater, Ont.

Scott has travelled throughout Canada, but next week marks her first visit to Prince George. The closest she came to curling here came in 2006, when her team travelled to Williams Lake for women’s provincials.

The Scott team’s only tie-in to the community is through Armstrong, who has relatives living in Prince George. Winning over fans at CN Centre shouldn’t be difficult, as the squad is the only B.C. representative vying to represent the country in Vancouver.

On paper, Scott appears the favourite to capture the top qualifying berth for the Olympic trials next month. Her team is the top-ranked squad of the dozen competing in the pre-trials.

Scott isn’t putting much emphasis on where teams are ranked.

“It’s kind of irrelevant once you get playing, so it’s going to be a tough, tough week. I’m expecting a lot of games will come right down to the wire, right down to the last shot and you just hope that you’re on top of your game next week when it really counts.”

As for the Olympic trials in Edmonton, Scott wouldn’t say the four pre-trials qualifiers are at a disadvantage because they have to go through Prince George to reach Edmonton.

“It’ll just come down to that one week, who’s hot and who gets that one Olympics spot.”

Road to the Roar ticket information is available through the event’s website at www.seasonofchampions.ca/rttr. You can also contact Ticketmaster at 250-614-9100.

Check future issues of the Free Press and visit the newspaper’s website at www.pgfreepress.com for more curling news leading up to, and during the Road to the Roar.