Kelly Scott will begin defending her Tournament of Hearts title this Saturday when her Team Canada rink takes on Ontario skip Sherry Middaugh in the opening draw of the Canadian women's curling championship in Regina.

This year's tournament features a very deep field, including Scott (the two-time defending champion), former champ Jennifer Jones, Olympic bronze medallist Shannon Kleibrink, plus decorated veterans such as Middaugh, Michelle Englot and Mary-Anne Arsenault, not to mention feisty youngsters Suzanne Gaudet and Marie-France Larouche.

Team Canada skip Kelly Scott will be vying for a third straight canadian women's curling title at this year's Tournament of Hearts.
(Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)

Some are calling the 2008 field 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," CBC Sports curling analyst Joan McCusker, who captured the last of her three titles with Sandra Schmirler that year, told CBCSports.ca.

"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."

Scott's team the one to beat

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.

As the defending champions, Scott's rink is the team to beat, but the native of Kelowna, B.C., should not take success in Regina for granted.

"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," McCusker said.

"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."

Scott can expect a strong challenge from Manitoba's Jennifer Jones, who won the tournament in 2005

"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," McCusker said.

Final scheduled for Feb. 24

As for the hometown Saskatchewan rink, Michelle Englot is certainly battle-tested after skipping at Canadian championships in three different decades.

But her third, Darlene Kidd, and lead, Cindy 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.

"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," McCusker said.

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

The Tournament of Hearts semifinal is slated for Feb. 23 (CBC, 11:30 a.m. ET), with the final going Feb. 24 (CBC, 12:30 p.m. ET). Both contests will be streamed live on CBCSports.ca