Manitoba dominating Hearts curling field

OTTAWA — There will be a strong Manitoba presence at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts as five teams from that province have been confirmed for the 18-team competition at Calgary’s Markin MacPhail Centre.

Three wild-card teams — all from Manitoba — were on the official entry list released Monday by Curling

Canada.

Tracy Fleury’s team, as well as Mackenzie Zacharias and Beth Peterson, will join provincial representative Jennifer Jones and defending champion Kerri Einarson in the field at the Feb. 19-28 event.

Curling Canada also confirmed Mike McEwen of Manitoba, Kevin Koe of Alberta and Glenn Howard of Ontario as the wild-card entries for the March 5-14 Tim Hortons Brier.

The Scotties field was filled over the weekend as P.E.I., Newfoundland and the Northwest Territories completed playdowns. Suzanne Birt was victorious in P.E.I., Sarah Hill won the N.L. spot while Kerry Galusha won in N.W.T.

Curling Canada said the Brier field will be released later in the week when all entries have been confirmed.