Missing their star skip, Selena Njegovan has led Team Tracy Fleury to the playoffs at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. 

Njegovan and Wild Card 1 clinched one of the three playoff spots in Pool A Wednesday night thanks to an 8-2 win over Nunavut at Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay.

The team from East St. Paul, Man., were thrown a curve ball before the start of competition on Friday as it was revealed their regular skip Tracy Fleury was entering COVID-19 protocol. 

Njegovan, the third on the team, took over full skip duties while sister-in-law and alternate Robyn Njegovan came in to play vice. Second Liz Fyfe and lead Kristin MacCuish remained at their regular positions. 

Team Fleury dropped their opener on Friday night to New Brunswick's Andrea Crawford, but have proceeded to reel off six straight games to make it into the playoffs. 

"It doesn't surprise us," said Njegovan after the win over Nunavut. "We are a great team all together and Robyn has filled in perfectly with us. We do miss Tracy like crazy and I'm not going to lie, we were a little worried without her, but we've worked really hard to get to this point and we're really happy to be where we're at."  

Njegovan has been one of the best skips in Thunder Bay, shooting 81 per cent for the week through seven games. The 30-year-old credited her team for giving her the opportunity to succeed. 

"The three girls have been unbelievable all week," she said. "They have had so much confidence in me and believed in me going up to skip. As everyone knows, this isn't my preferred position, so they've been so great in front of me and making it easy for me on my last two."

Fleury's status for the rest of the Canadian championship is still up in the air. Njegovan says the team will discuss what's best for the team going forward if and when Fleury gets clearance to return to action.

"We still don't know exactly when she's going to be back, so we don't have a definite plan yet."

Fleury's rink went 8-0 in the round robin of the Tim Hortons Curling Trials in November before falling to Team Jennifer Jones in a heartbreaking final. They then missed the playoffs at Manitoba provincials, but earned the first wild-card spot to the Scotties thanks to their No.1 ranking on the CTRS. 

No members of Team Fleury have ever won a Scotties titles. Njegovan, Fyfe and MacCuish earned silver at the 2018 Tournament of Hearts in Penticton, B.C., when skipped by Kerri Einarson. 

Team Fleury wrap up round robin play Thursday afternoon with a clash against Northern Ontario and Team Krista McCarville, who sit at 5-2 and can clinch a playoff spot of their own with a victory.