Carey stays unbeaten and wraps up first seed
CANADIAN OLYMPIC TRIALS Victories over McCarville, Englot leave Calgary curling rink at top of heap
Chelsea Carey beat Krista McCarville, 5-2, on Friday morning to lock up the first seed in the women’s draw at the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings.
McCarville was wide and heavy with her final throw of the 10th end to give Carey the victory and a berth in Sunday’s curling final.
“I’ve always been a big believer that there is a lot of destiny involved in an event like this,” Carey said. “So, for me, my job is to prepare as much as I can and I’ve done that leading up and we’ve all done that leading up as a team.
“Then you come out in the final and you allow the training to take over as much as you can and just hope it’s your day.”
The result gave Ottawa’s Rachel Homan (6-1) a playoff berth. She will close out her round-robin schedule on Friday night against Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones.
Carey (8-0), from Calgary, capped a perfect round-robin in the afternoon with a 10-3 rout of Winnipeg’s Michelle Englot. Jones (5-2) secured the other women’s playoff spot when McCarville (4-4), from Thunder Bay, Ont., dropped a 7-6 extra-end decision to Edmonton’s Val Sweeting (4-4).
Calgary’s Kevin Koe (7-0) and Brad Gushue (5-2) of St. John’s, N.L., have locked up the first two spots in the men’s standings.
Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen (5-3) beat Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher 6-4 on Friday morning to secure at least a tiebreaker berth. Bottcher (3-4) was eliminated from playoff contention.
McEwen took the lead with three points in the eighth end and added a single in the ninth.
“It felt good to really grind out that game,” he said.
“That was the team playing really well and we’re going to have to be able to win games like that going forward.”
Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers (4-3) can set up a tiebreaker game against McEwen with a victory over Bottcher in the evening.
If Carruthers loses, McEwen gets the third and final playoff spot.
Round-robin play wraps up Friday night. If a tiebreaker is needed, it will be played Saturday morning.
The Jones-Homan matchup will determine seeding and be a semifinal preview.
If Homan wins, she will get to pick stones and have hammer. If Jones wins, she will get choice of either hammer or stones.
The second and third-place teams will meet in the semifinals Saturday.
The winners will advance to the finals on Sunday.
The winning teams will represent Canada at the Pyeongchang Olympics in February.