Moose Jaw’s Penny Barker and Team Saskatchewan are going to St. Catherines, Ontario to win.

The local curling rink won the provincial title a few weeks ago and are now getting set to open up the 2017 Scotties Tournament of Hearts on Saturday.

“We’ve made one dream and now it’s back to business, we’re going to the Scotties, so lets make the most of it, lets play hard and go for the win there too,” said Barker. “I know that our team has what it takes to do well there and that’s what we’re going out to do.”

This will be the first trip to the national championship for Barker, along with third Deanna Doig, second Lorraine Schneider and lead Danielle Sicinski, but the team isn’t heading in blind.

Over the weekend, the team hosted a mini training camp at the Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre in preparation for the next few weeks and there was a lot of national and international experience on the ice with them, including former Scotties champion Amber Holland, who is the team’s alternate, as well as coach Merv Fonger and Brier champion Pat Simmons.

“Having them around helps a lot,” said Barker. “Drawing on their experiences since it is new to us. They’ve been in certain situations that we haven’t been in before, so you ask them about those times and use that experience to your benefit.”

The team is leaving no stone unturned in their preparations as they want to make sure they are ready to face the best curlers our country has to offer.

“This weekend had some general planning and mental prep sessions and more on-ice sessions,” said Barker. “We’re just doing our best to prepare ourselves mentally and physically for the week at the Scotties.”

A big part of any success that the Barker rink has at the Scotties can be traced back to their successful run to end the provincial championship, which saw them win five straight games, many in the final end to capture their spot in the Scotties.

Barker said they learned a lot about their team over the course of that weekend.

“We hadn’t really played a lot together, we only had a few bonspiels under our belt going into provincials and just the way we got through provincials – having to go through the tiebreaker and all the way up – really showed that we’ll buckle down and get the job done, stay relaxed and stay focused,” said Barker.

“I’m really proud of how the team played and that’s something good to keep in the toolbox for when we get to the Scotties because I’m sure we’ll face the same situations there.”

The competition will be tough, but Barker is confident that they match-up.

“Everybody is good that is at the Scotties, they all got through their provincials and deserve to be there and are great teams, so I don’t think we care about what the name of the team is, we’re going to go out there and play our game and play it to the best of our abilities,” said Barker.

“When it comes down to it, it’s eight people on a curling sheet, it doesn’t really matter that it’s in an arena setting with a lot of people there and so many other things going on, that’s a new experience for us, but it’s just another sheet of curling ice.”

The local curling community hosted a send-off on Saturday for the Barker rink, as well as Moose Jaw’s Marie Wright who will be representing Canada at the World Wheelchair Curling Championship. Over 100 people packed into the curling centre to wish them luck at the Scotties.

“I’m ready to go, I’m excited to get out there and just compete and put all this hard work onto the ice,” said Barker.

The Scotties open on Thursday night with the pre-qualifying action, while Team Saskatchewan will hit the ice for their first game on Saturday night against Team Newfoundland & Labrador at 5:30 p.m. Sask time.