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Team Saskatchewan finally returns home from Scotties Tournament of Hearts

Mar 3, 2011 | 5:30 AM

It took some time, but team Saskatchewan has returned home after their thrilling 8-7 win in the Scotties Tournamnet of Hearts final over Team Canada.

The team was supposed to return home Monday, but bad weather down East forced the team to lay over in Moncton, New Brunswick for a couple of days.

Hundreds of fans descended on the Regina International Airport Wednesday, and when the team finally came through the doors, a loud cheer went up.

Skip Amber Holland couldn't wipe the smile from her face.

“I knew a lot of the people would be here,” said Holland. “It was probably the only the time it's brought a tear to my eye, except when I blew a kiss to my mom at the end of the game.”

Lead Heather Kalenchuk couldn't wait to get home.

“It definitely feels good to be home and able to sleep in our own beds tonight,” said Kalenchuk.

Being stranded though wasn't the worst thing in the world to happen to the girls.

Former Brier winner Russ Howard lives in Moncton and took the team in for the two days.

The highlight for the team…..re-watching the final with some Howard commentary.

“Sitting down, being able to watch it as a team, with our coach, and fifth player was definitely an expereince,” said Kalenchuk. “It helped us really appreciate the moment and what we had accomplished.”

Second Tammy Schneider said it felt like they were right back on the ice.

“Your heart definitely starts beating and you feel like you're back in the moment,” said Schneider. “You know exactly how you felt when it was happening. All the emotions came flooding back pretty quickly. It was pretty cool to watch.”

No time to rest though.

The team heads to Denmark in eleven days as the World Curling Championship is being held there.

Third Kim Schneider says they'll start preparations soon and won't change a thing just because they're Canada's best.

“We'll focus on our team performance, a few practices, and getting things together that we need to,” said Schneider. “We know what we need to do when we get there. We have some extras who have been to World's before, so we have a really good guidance crew and we'll be ready to go.”

The World Curling Championship goes form March 18-27 in Esjberg, Denmark.

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