Kelly Scott, foreground, is the two-time defending champion, but a tough field including former winner Jennifer Jones lurks right behind in Regina. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

The Tournament of Hearts is returning to the scene of one of its greatest glories.

This year's version of the Canadian women's curling championship begins Feb. 16 at the Brandt Centre in Regina, site of the memorable 1998 tournament.

It was that year when the defending champion Saskatchewan rink skipped by the late Sandra Schmirler — fresh from capturing Olympic gold in Nagano, Japan — returned as conquering heroes to defend its Canadian title in the capital of their home province.

Despite Schmirler's semifinal loss to Ontario's Anne Merklinger, who was later beaten in the final by Alberta's Cathy Borst, the '98 event set an attendance record that stands to this day.

To commemorate the tournament's 10th anniversary, the surviving members of the Schmirler rink — third Jan Betker, second Joan McCusker and lead Marcia Gudereit — will throw the ceremonial opening rock this Saturday.

"It's going to be a real high for everybody to kind of recreate that memory. But, obviously, it's going to be sad because Sandra is not there as well," says McCusker, who will provide commentary for the semifinal and final on CBC.

"After that it's all about the great competition there will be at this year's event."

Indeed, one could hardly imagine a more fitting collection of rinks to celebrate the return of the Tournament of Hearts to Regina.

Headlined by two-time defending champion Kelly Scott, former champ Jennifer Jones and Olympic bronze medallist Shannon Kleibrink, plus decorated veterans Sherry Middaugh, Michelle Englot and Mary-Anne Arsenault, not to mention feisty youngsters Suzanne Gaudet and Marie-France Larouche, the 2008 field is being called by some the best ever.

"There was only one other Scotties that I was involved in as a player or a broadcaster that comes anywhere close to this field, and that was in 1997," says McCusker, who captured the last of her three titles with Schmirler that year.

"The interesting part this year is that there are so many legitimate contenders. It's different than any other field I've ever broken down.

"At most Scotties, it's pretty easy to pick who's going to make the playoffs and who's going to be the also-rans. But when you've got this many good teams, anything can happen."

Here's an educated guess as to how the star-studded field will shake down, including McCusker's take on each of the 12 rinks:

THE FAVOURITES

Team Canada
Players: Kelly Scott, Jeanna Schraeder, Sasha Carter, Renee Simons, Michelle Allen
Club: Kelowna (B.C.) Curling Club
Experience: Fourth appearance (2005, '06 champion, '07 champion)

Over the past two years, Scott has transformed her reputation from that of a talented shot-maker prone to softening in pressure situations into that of perhaps the finest big-game skip in the world. That will happen when you the win the planet's toughest women's bonspiel in consecutive years and add a 2007 world championship to boot.

McCusker: "Kelly made it clear that she's the best at last year's worlds [in Japan]. It wasn't an easy field, and she played lights out.

"The problem for her, and every Team Canada before her, is that you have nothing to gauge how you're doing at this time of year because you don't have the momentum of the provincial playdowns. But if they get going early, they can make up for that."

Manitoba
Players: Jennifer Jones, Cathy Overton-Clapham, Jill Officer, Dawn Askin, Jennifer Clarke-Rouire
Club: St. Vital Curling Club (Winnipeg)
Experience: Fifth appearance (2002, '05 champion, '06 finalist, '07)

No one questions her talent — remember that shot she made to beat Ontario's Jenn Hanna in the 2005 final? — but some wonder whether Jones has what it takes to get past Scott, who has ousted her in the playoffs two years running.

Then there's the matter of a new lead — Dawn Askin, who replaces Janet Arnott — and a rough ride through the Manitoba playdowns, during which Jones got into an ugly dispute with a younger team over what Jones alleged was a sweeping violation.

McCusker: "Jennifer so rarely makes a strategic error. She's a very, very smart skip. But I think when something goes wrong, the way her team communicates with each other gets a little edgy. I think for her to take it up a notch, she needs to iron that out.

"What's great about the rivalry between the Jones and Scott rinks is you can flip a coin. They are truly the two best teams in Canada, and have been for the last two years."

Alberta
Players: Shannon Kleibrink, Amy Nixon, Bronwen Saunders, Chelsey Bell , Nikki Smith
Club: Calgary Winter Club
Experience: Third appearance (1993, '04)

Alberta's Shannon Kleibrink, right, has switched up her team since the 2006 Olympics, but longtime third Amy Nixon remains a steady sidekick. (Canadian Press)

Her somewhat disappointing bronze-medal finish at the 2006 Olympics may have made her famous (or infamous, depending on who you ask) but Kleibrink has been one of the world's finest cash-circuit players for years. This season is no different, as she leads the money list heading into Regina, despite playing with a different front end than the one she took to Turin.

Kleibrink's Tournament of Hearts record is, at best, checkered — she went 6-5 and failed to make the playoffs in both 1993 and 2004. But don't count out anyone who has beaten a field as deep as the one Kleibrink did at the 2005 Olympic trials.

McCusker: "Everybody makes a big deal of the fact Shannon didn't win an Olympic gold medal, but she stood on her head to win the bronze. I've played against her for 18 years, and she wins so much cash every year. She is incredible."

"And I think the new players make her stronger. She's been with her new second [Bronwen Saunders] for a couple of seasons already, and her new lead [Chelsey Bell] is a former world junior runner-up.

"Everyone is going to pick Jennifer Jones and Kelly Scott, but I'm going to move Shannon Kleibrink into that group."

PLAYOFF CONTENDERS

Nova Scotia
Players: Mary-Anne Arsenault, Kim Kelly, Laine Peters, Nancy Delahunt, Cheryl McBain
Club: Mayflower Curling Club (Halifax)
Experience: Rookie

Neither Arsenault, who will throw last rocks, nor Delahunt, who will call the shots from the lead position, has skipped at a Tournament of Hearts. But the team's rookie status is a bit misleading — Arsenault, Delahunt and third Kelly made up three quarters of the great Colleen Jones rink that won five Canadian titles between 1999-2004. And second Peters was the fifth on that team.

McCusker: "They are potentially very dangerous. They haven't measured themselves against anybody, but we know how good they are."

Ontario
Players: Sherry Middaugh, Kirsten Wall, Kim Moore, Andra Harmark, Tara George
Club: Coldwater & District Curling Club
Experience: Fifth appearance (1996, '01, '02, '04)

Ontario's Sherry Middaugh has made three trips to the semifinal - and lost each time. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)

Middaugh is a strong cash player, sitting fifth on the money list this season, and she's done damage at past Tournaments of Hearts, getting to within a win of the final in three of her four appearances. But that's as far as Middaugh has gone — she's lost each of her semifinals, most recently to Quebec's Marie-France Larouche in 2004.

McCusker: "This may be one of Middaugh's strongest teams. She tends to freeze up in those high-pressure situations, but she's been in them enough that she could now be very, very good."

Saskatchewan
Players: Michelle Englot, Darlene Kidd, Roberta Materi, Cindy Simmons, Lorie Kehler
Club: Tartan Curling Club (Regina)
Experience: Sixth appearance (1988, '89, '90, '92, '01)

Englot is certainly battle-tested after skipping at Canadian championships in three different decades. But her third, Kidd, and lead, Simmons, are rookies, and Englot is perhaps not even the best skip in Saskatchewan, as Stephanie Lawton ranks ahead of her on the money list. Englot will be looking for a lift from the knowledgeable and passionate home crowd in Regina.

McCusker: "Michelle has been there a lot, and she's battle-hardened. She's the reason why my team got good — we couldn't get out of our province without raising our game to a certain level of excellence to beat her.

"Being the home team, if she gets some wins on the opening weekend, she could be very dangerous."

DARKHORSES

Prince Edward Island
Players: Suzanne Gaudet, Robyn MacPhee, Carol Webb, Stefanie Clark, Kim Dolan
Club: Charlottetown Curling Club
Experience: Fifth appearance (2003, '04, '06, '07)

Gaudet's record belies her relatively tender age of 26: the 2001 world junior champion will be making her fifth trip to the Tournament of Hearts in the last six years. But the memory of her surprising rookie run in 2003 — she went 10-1 in the round robin before dropping both her playoff games — is fading. Gaudet went a combined 6-16 in the two subsequent years before rebounding last year to make the 3-4 Page playoff, where she fell to Jennifer Jones.

McCusker: "Why is it that I can't pick Gaudet? I don't know. She's just not battle-hardened — she doesn't bonspiel a lot. She's done OK at the Scotties, but in this field it's going to be really tough."

Quebec
Players: Marie-France Larouche, Nancy Belanger, Annie Lemay, Joelle Sabourin, Valerie Grenier
Club: Etchemin Curling Club
Experience: Third appearance (2001, '04 finalist)

The 27-year-old Larouche, a former Canadian junior champ, has acquitted herself well in her two Tournament of Hearts appearances, making the playoffs in both. She got her feet wet in 2001 by reaching the 3-4 playoff, then made it all the way to the final in 2004, where Colleen Jones dispatcher Larouche for the last of her national titles.

McCusker: "Larouche hasn't shown me enough on the bonspiel circuit. We haven't seen her a lot in those big games at the end.

"For their age, they're fantastic. But in curling you've just got to get those experiences under your belt."

Newfoundland and Labrador
Players: Heather Strong, Cathy Cunningham, Laura Strong, Peg Goss, Bobbie Sauder
Club: St. John's Curling Club
Experience: Eighth appearance (1998, '99, '00, '01, '05, '06, '07)

Strong has been there, but just hasn't done much. Her seven appearances are the most in this year's field, and she'll be making her fourth trip in as many years to the Tournament of Hearts. But Strong has yet to do any real damage past the round robin.

McCusker: "You never know with Heather. She's made tiebreakers and playoffs, and she's won a bit of money."

THE REST

British Columbia
Players: Allison MacInnes, Karla Sparks, Janelle Yardley, Amanda Brennan, Sandra Jenkins
Club: Kamloops Curling Club
Experience: Rookie

New Brunswick
Players: Sylvie Robichaud, Danielle Nicholson, Marie Richard, Julie Carrier, Stacey Leger
Club: Beausejour Curling Club (Moncton)
Experience: Rookie

Northwest Territories and the Yukon
Players: Kerry Galusha, Teejay Surik, Dawn Moses, Heather McCagg-Nystrom, Shona Barbour
Club: Yellowknife Curling Club
Experience: Fourth appearance (2001, ’05, ’06, '07)

McCusker: "There's nothing wrong with these teams at the bottom. They could beat anybody. They're just not strong enough to go on that long run to make the playoffs."

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