Morris qualifies for Roar of the Rings with win over Bottcher
SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — John Morris and his Vernon, B.C., rink won the men’s A-side curling qualifying game of the 2017 Home Hardware Road to the Roar Pre-Trials, shading Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher, 4-3.
Morris and his teammates have locked in a place for the 2017 Roar of the Rings, Canada’s Olympic qualifying tournament that begins in Ottawa on Dec. 2.
Bottcher will get another shot at a Trials berth Sunday night when he plays the winner of the B-side semifinal between Glenn Howard of Tiny, Ont., and Greg Balsdon of Kingston, Ont.
Morris, who won Olympic gold in 2010 playing third for Kevin Martin, said this team learned a lesson from the ’13 run to the final that it will put into play in Ottawa.
“We were sure determined in 2013, and I actually visualized playing my old team (Martin) in the final, and we actually played them in the semis,” said Morris, who will be playing in his fifth consecutive Roar of the Rings. “There were just a lot of emotions in that game, and I think we let off the gas pedal a bit and we weren’t at our sharpest in the final. So, we’re going to prepare for a grind for the entire event and we won’t let up one inch until the very last rock is thrown. That will be the biggest difference.”
Meanwhile, in women’s playoff action Sunday morning, Julie Tippin of Woodstock, Ont., stole two in the seventh end to beat Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque 8-5 in the B-side semifinal.
Tippin and her team advance to the B-side final against Winnipeg’s Briane Meilleur. The winner will qualify for the Roar of the Rings, joining A-side qualifier Krista McCarville in the nineteam field in Ottawa.
The Road to the Roar is the final qualifying event for teams to reach the Roar of the Rings, Dec. 2-10 in Ottawa, where Canada’s four-player curling teams for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, will be decided.