EINARSON, HOMAN, AND JONES BATTLE FOR THE TOP SPOT
While the defending champions are on their last legs at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, two former Canadian curling queens and the top new contender are seemingly just heating up.
Six-time Canadian champion Jennifer Jones (Team Wild Card), three-time champion Rachel Homan (Ontario) and top-seed and world No. 3 Kerri Einarson (Manitoba) all won twice and improved their records to 8-1 Thursday to book spots in the playoffs with a full day left in the championship round.
At the same time, defending Canadian women’s curling champion Chelsea Carey (Team Canada) lost both games on Thursday to fall to 4-5 but is, remarkably, still not eliminated, with a bunch of teams still vying for the final playoff spot.
Einarson plays both Homan and Jones on Friday in a pair of games that will determine the seeding for the Page playoffs, which start Saturday.
“It’s almost like you’re feeling that everything is sudden death, and you really need to go out and play so well,” Jones said after an 8-3 win over Saskatchewan’s Robyn Silvernagle on Thursday night at Mosaic Place. “At the end of the day we just want to make the final four, so we’re in a really good spot right now to do that. We want to come out and play well heading into the next round.”
Jones also faces Northern Ontario’s Krista Mccarville (6-3) on Friday, while Homan takes on Saskatchewan (5-4).
Homan’s team, which last won the Canadian title in 2017, has been a wrecking crew all week and is hungry for more.
“We wouldn’t be happy coming out and not playing well and limping into the 3-4 game,” Homan said after an 8-4 win over Team Canada. “That’s not what we want. We want to make sure we are coming out and giving it our all and trying to win those last two games to set ourselves up as best we can.”
Einarson, though not as decorated as Jones and Homan, has been just as strong all week and has looked especially good since giving up a Scotties record seven-ender on Friday and losing 13-7 to New Brunswick’s Andrea Crawford.
It promises to be a wild Friday in terms of determining the fourth playoff team.
Northern Ontario (6-3) has the upper hand after Mccarville beat B.C.’S Corryn Brown 7-6 in an extra end Thursday night.
But still in the mix are Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island (Suzanne Birt) at 5-4 and Team Canada and B.C. at 4-5. It’s conceivable a team with five losses will get into the playoffs.
However, it’s hard to imagine anyone but Einarson, Homan or Jones winning it all.
Jones, third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jocelyn Peterman and lead Dawn Mcewen, flirted with disaster at times during the round robin but have been looking very sharp in recent games. A bunch of early close games could pay off now that the stakes are higher.
Even before her two-win day on Thursday, Einarson was starting to feel the grind of the long tournament. Now she’s staring at potentially playing Homan and Jones multiple times over the next couple of day.
“It was pretty funny, on the way here in the car this morning, we’re like “OK girls, only seven more games,’” the top-seeded Einarson said with a laugh.
“Oh my God, it’s like starting a whole ’spiel again. It’s a long, gruelling 10 days. Holy, man. Mentally, physically out there, it’s a grind. That’s why the off-season training is key.”
Homan’s team, which includes third Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney and lead Lisa Weagle, has been quietly going about its business this week, despite not getting as much attention as usual.
After Homan and Courtney had babies during the off-season, the team approached the 201920 curling season differently, with a goal of peaking for this event.
“Usually, going into the season, we train in August, prior to competing,” Miskew said. “Obviously, this year, with the changes and additions to our lineup, we weren’t able to have that same training time. We knew that going into the season so were just going to be patient in the fall and aim to peak at the right time.
“Provincials was the first one where we wanted to peak. Once we got through that we felt like we were kind of rolling and we just wanted to take that forward to this.”