Win over Einarson key for Ontario
Defeats defending champions in Pool A action
there’s still lots of curling left in the 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts but if Ontario’s rachel Homan does go on to win her fourth championship, she’ll no doubt look back at Thursday afternoon’s win over defending champion Kerri einarson as a key moment.
The top two teams in the standings met at the Markin Macphail Centre in Calgary and, while einarson and Team Canada had the upper hand coming into the game, it was Homan who emerged with it after the last rock stopped sliding. Homan won 7-4, moving her team into a first-place tie with einarson at 7-1 as Championship Pool play gets underway Friday.
More importantly, it gave Homan the head-to-head tie-breaker, which could be the difference if the two teams remain deadlocked after Saturday’s games.
The team with the best record after the Championship Pool will earn a direct spot in Sunday’s Scotties final, while the second- and third-place teams will have to play in the semifinal.
“It’s obviously very huge for us to be at the top and make sure our records are the same going into the championship round,” said Homan, an Ottawa native, who’s a three-time Scotties champion and five-time finalist.
“There’s a huge battle ahead though in the championship round and there will be tons of good games. every game is gonna be crucial from now on.”
Homan, who is eight months pregnant, has played remarkably well this week, save for one off game, when her team lost to Kerry Galusha of the Northwest Territories on Wednesday.
“I don’t think anybody can really say they’re close to the top of their game right now with COVID and the way that we prepared before coming here, but I think we’re firing as well as we can be,” Homan said. “I’m really proud of how the girls are playing.”
Homan and einarson finished tied atop Pool A and the other two Championship Pool spots went to beth Peterson, a wild card team from Manitoba and Laura Walker of Alberta, both with 5-3 records.
Peterson started the Scotties with a 1-3 record but has won four games in a row, including a gritty comeback against Galusha on Thursday. Peterson trailed 8-5 after eight ends but scored two with the hammer in the ninth, stole one in the 10th and stole another in the extra end for the win.
“um, I don’t have many words … we’re pretty excited,” said Peterson, a firsttimer in the Scotties. “Our first goal was to make the Championship Pool, so we’ve done that, put up that check mark and now we can move on to the next goal.
“The girls really held me in there today. I wasn’t my best but my girls were great and brought me back in after a few missed shots. We were able to capitalize in the last two ends. We were pretty much 100 per cent, the last two ends.”
Walker qualified for the Championship Pool for the first time after missing out in her first Scotties appearance last year.
Her team started 3-0 here this week, fell back to 3-2 and wound up battling to a 5-3 mark. The teams at three losses can’t really afford any more, but they’ll still be playing on Friday and Saturday and that’s an achievement in itself.
“Our goal is to stand on top or the podium and to win this event,” Walker said.
“We’re not going to be truly satisfied unless that happens.
“yes, it’s a bit of a monkey off the back to be into the championship round but we’re not satisfied at this point by any means.”
Things are a little more tricky in Pool b, where five teams were still in contention for the Championship Pool and no team had clinched more than a tie-breaker heading into the Thursday night draw.
Saskatchewan’s Sherry Anderson, Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones and Quebec’s Laurie St-georges were all tied at the top with 5-2 records, while Tracy Fleury’s wild card team, skipped by
Chelsea Carey, was at 5-3.
P.e.i.’s Suzanne birt (4-3) still had a chance to force a tie-breaker when her team played b.c.’s Corryn brown Thursday night.
Carey’s team had the bye on Thursday night while everyone else battled it out.
Jones was facing winless Lori eddy of Nunavut (0-7) Thursday night, while St-georges was up against Melissa Adams of New brunswick (3-4) and Anderson was taking on Sarah Hill of Newfoundland and Labrador (2-5).