Thompson tops crowded leaderboard at women’s curling provincials
Well now, that’s why you don’t count your chickens before they hatch or, in curling circles, your stones before they’re thrown.
Karla Thompson fell from the undefeated ranks with a loss in the morning, but rebounded with an unexpected win in the afternoon to clinch first place at the 2018 B.C. Scotties Women’s Curling Championship on Friday at the Victoria Curling Club.
Thompson outlasted the Royal City’s Diane Gushulak 7-6 with a steal of one in the 10th end in a game where last-rock advantage was almost a disadvantage.
Thompson and her Kamloops rink of third Kristen Recksiedler, second Shannon Joanisse and lead Trysta Vandale — which finished 6-1 — now advance to the Page 1-2 playoff game at 2 p.m. today against Nanaimo’s Kesa Van Osch, who lept from fourth place to second because of a three-way deadlock.
Van Osch, with sisters Marika and Kalia at third and second, respectively, and Amy Gibson at lead, finished 5-2 along with Corryn Brown of Kamloops and Gushulak. All three had won one game apiece in head-to-head play so it came down to draws to the button at the end of each warm-up session.
Van Osch finishes second, Brown third and Gushulak, who appeared on her way to first place when the last games began, plummeted down to fourth to meet Brown in the Page 3-4 game at 7 p.m.
Gushulak’s final stone against Thompson, a control tap-back to eliminate Thompson’s lone counter amid three Gushulak rocks, did not curl enough, ticked the opposing blue stone, but slid too far for the steal.
“There were lots of rocks in play,” said a relieved Thompson, who managed to steal one in each of the first two ends and had Gushulak in a major pickle in the third before she played a controlled hit, facing three stones, to cut it to 2-1.
The fourth end was problematic for Thompson, who faced three Gushulak rocks in the four foot, ticked the front one to give up a steal of three. She did bounce back for a deuce in the fifth — the only multiple score with hammer in the entire game as steals and forces were prominent.
“We’re in the 1-2 game and that’s exactly where we want to be. We just want to continue building on this last game and going up from there,” said Thompson, the 2016 champion. “We’re going to have to come out and play strong [today].”
The loss was a stunner for Gushulak who finished as a runner-up at provincials last year to Marla Mallett.
“It was a very bizarre game,” said Gushulak. “It was back and forth and back and forth. I thought we would have a really close, well played game and that was a bit of a basketball game.
“The last one felt good out of my hand. The ice had straightened a bit so they skate or glide further, but I thought it was good. It just skated and because it runs straighter they don’t finish. Two ends earlier, I think that would have curled right into the back one.
“Quite unfortunate and we’re quite disappointed,” said Gushulak, who now has the long road to get to the final. “It’s a bit of a road back. We were there last year, so we have to regroup and come out and play [today].”
Last year, Gushulak had battled her way through a tiebreaker, the Page 3-4 game and the semifinal before succumbing to Mallett.
“It’s a new day and we have to bring it again,” said Gushulak.
Meanwhile, Van Osch defeated Randi Ludwar 9-4 in the final round-robin draw, while Brown downed Kim Slattery 11-3. Slattery was attempting to play her way into a tiebreaker after disposing of Thompson 5-4 in the morning.
Holly Donaldson’s split Vancouver/Victoria rink defeated Kayte Gyles of Royal City 7-4 in the other afternoon game. Slattery finished 3-4, Donaldson 2-5 and Ludwar and Gyles were both 1-6.
Gushulak, the most veteran skip at the eight-team event, earlier peppered Brown 9-4 thanks to three-enders in the seventh and ninth ends in the morning. Van Osch handled Gyles 8-3 and Ludwar managed to pick up her only win by edging Donaldson 6-5 with a single in the 10th.
Following today’s playoff games, the Page 1-2 loser drops down to face the winner of the Page 3-4 clash in the semi on Sunday at 11 a.m., followed by the championship matchup at 4 p.m. with the final four games available on Shaw TV.