Strong and her St. John's rink of Cathy Cunningham, Laura Strong and Peg Goss improved to 5-4 with a couple of impressive wins Wednesday. That record puts Newfoundland in a five-way tie for what would be the fourth and final playoff spot. Quebec, which Strong and Co. defeated 9-5 late Wednesday night, is also at 5-4 as are P.E.I., Alberta, and Ontario.

B.C. leads at 8-1, followed by Team Canada and Saskatchewan at 6-3. Jennifer Jones's defending Canadian champs were Strong's other victims Wednesday, with Team Canada losing 8-4.

Not much is clear what going into what could be a crazy Thursday in Victoria. It is a certainty that British Columbia has clinched a top-two finish and a playoff spot. It is just as certain that if Newfoundland wins it final two games today - against New Brunswick (3-6) and Nova Scotia (1-8) - it will guarantee itself at least a place in a tie-breaker on Friday.

Two days ago, even that didn't seem possible for Strong and Co., which had started the week at 1-4. But then the Newfoundlanders ran off four straight wins, all against teams that were ahead of them in the standings at the time. That run not only helped Strong's rink move up, but helped bring Quebec, Alberta, and P.E.I. back.

Cunningham said they didn't have any choice but to win, since putting their backs against the wall. "With four losses we were done. Either we turned it up a notch to see what we could do, or we're going home," she said.

Strong's rink isn't the only one on a roll. After starting with three straight losses, Saskatchewan, skipped by Stefanie Lawton, has bounced back with six wins and now controls its playoff fortunes.

"We knew that was going to be an intense game against Alberta," said Lawton, who needed an extra end to turn back Cheryl Bernard 7-6 in the afternoon draw. "We are fighters and I'm so proud of how we came back from our 0-3 start. We have a lot of family and friends here and it is great when you can hear them cheering for us."

Strong and her St. John's rink of Cathy Cunningham, Laura Strong, and Peg Goss defeated Alberta 8-6 and Prince Edward Island 9-3 Tuesday to improve their record to 3-4. What's more, the victories came against teams that were ahead of Newfoundland in the standings, giving Strong's team even more incentive in the chase.

The St. John's rink is tied for seventh place with Ontario and New Brunswick, and only the top four finishers make the playoffs. However, there are three teams - Alberta, P.E.I., an Sakatchewan - tied for fourth at 4-3.

Marla Mallett of B.C. leads at 6-1, followed by defending champion Jennifer Jones and Team Canada, who are at 5-2 along with Quebec's Marie-France Larouche. Strong could make things even tighter with a couple of wins today - Team Canada and Quebec will be her opponents.

Tuesday's big upset came in the late draw, when Kelly Galusha of the Territories defeated Jones 10-8, handing the defending Scotties and world champion her second loss of the day. Galusha, who is 22 weeks pregnant, kept pace with Jones from the outset, building leads of 4-1 and 6-4 before Canada rallied. Jones gave her Winnipeg rink the lead with a single in the eighth before Galusha took two in the ninth to build a 9-8 advantage.

Facing multiple Canadian stones in the house in the 10th, Galusha executed a perfect play off her own stone to edge out Jones for shot rock. Jones attempted to bump one of her own rocks into the Territories' stone with her final shot, but she was wide right.

"I'm extremely excited to see the statue. It'll be a personal high for me," said Strong, the provincial director of the Terry Fox Foundation in Newfoundland.

Strong has childhood memories of participating in Terry Fox runs near the other Mile 0, more than 5,000 kilometres away in St. John’s, N.L.

"In Newfoundland, we take great pride that Terry Fox started his cross-Canada run here. I grew up with that connection."

Although Strong and her team of third Cathy Cunningham, second Laura Strong, and lead Peg Goss might need directions to find Terry Fox’s statue, they’ll have no problem finding their way around the Scotties Tournament of Hearts next week at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. The combined experience among the four players adds up to 33 appearances at the Canadian women’s curling championship.

"We're sufficiently stocked with Scotties diamonds," Strong said, referring to the tradition of each participant receiving a diamond to add to a Scotties necklace. "We have a lot of experience, and we're hoping that'll pay off on the ice."

Strong has never made the medal round at the Scotties. She lost out in tiebreakers last year and 2006, when she was named an all-star skip, but Cunningham and Goss were runners-up in 2003. The biggest hurdle for the team, which has been together for two years, is getting game experience leading up to the Scotties.

"It’s tough, but we also don’t have anything else to compare it to. It is what it is," Strong said, of the isolation of her home province.

They want to play well at the Scotties, but they also plan to cherish every moment.

"This is my ninth, and you never know when it’s going to be your last."

So far this season in cashspiels, the Strong team has been steady and consistent on the ice, but hasn’t quite been able to win those key games to put themselves into the money. They lost out in three C-event qualifiers.

"We haven’t quite been able to flick the switch," she said. "I think the competition has been tough, but it’s just been a shot here and there. We haven’t been coming unhinged or anything."

Apparently, the team was just waiting for playdowns. Strong won seven straight games at the Bally Haly Golf and Curling Club to roll to her fifth straight provincial title. Besides experience, she said the strength of the team is a nice blend of personalities — she laughed about outgrowing those old sisterly blow-ups with Laura — and all are focused on the task at hand.

"We really aren’t shooting for anything less than the playoffs," Strong said, although she did see one disadvantage about curling in Victoria.

"The ocean is going to be on the wrong side."

Heather Strong left no doubt she’s queen of the rings in Newfoundland and Labrador women’s curling Sunday. Strong and her Re/Max Centre St. John’s curling rink of third Cathy Cunningham, second Peg Goss, and lead Laura Strong defeated clubmate Michelle Jewer 8-6 to win the Scotties provincial ladies’ curling championship at Bally Haly Golf and Curling Club for the fifth straight time.

"It was a tight game and came down to the last end," said Strong, who won seven straight games to earn the right to represent the province at the Canadian championships Feb. 21-March 1 in Victoria, B.C. "We were ahead throughout the game," said Strong, "but I don’t know if you could ever say we were in control at any point. It was a well-played game by both teams. We missed a couple of opportunities to get some padding points and they missed a couple of opportunities to tie the game."

Strong led 4-2 after four ends and could have put the game out of reach in the fifth with a shot at scoring five. Strong attempted a runback for the nickel, but ticked the guard and Jewer stole one. "It was a hard shot for five, but it was certainly available to us," Strong noted.

In the sixth end, Strong had an open hit and stick for a deuce. Jewer got one back in the seventh when she drew against two. Strong got that one back in the eighth. Jewer and her rink of Kellie Turpin, Jill Waite, and Leslie Ann Walsh stayed alive with a runback for two in the ninth end. Strong won the game and the championship with a draw to the four-foot in the 10th end.

"We were really pleased with how we played throughout the week," said Strong. "We felt we were in control for the most part..."

"We were really pleased with how we played throughout the week," said Strong. "We felt we were in control for the most part (during the round-robin) and played well. "We were able to finish off the close games that could have gone either way," said Strong, who beat Jewer 9-4 earlier in a round-robin match.

Strong said the team will "stay in practice mode" and try to get some competitive games here before they head out west for the nationals. Jewer beat Barb Pinsent of Re/Max Centre 9-3 in the semifinal. After finishing undefeated in the round-robin, Strong had to be beaten twice for the championship.