Curling: Quebec rookies eye playoff berth, Einarson alone in first at Hearts
CALGARY—Quebec’s rookies closed in on a championship round berth at the Canadian women’s curling championship Wednesday.
Laurie St-Georges topped a shifting Pool B with a 5-2 record, but five teams in that group remained in contention for the four championship round spots heading into the preliminary round’s finale Thursday at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Calgary.
“Honestly I can’t wait to be on the ice again and playing against great teams,” said the 23-year-old Quebec skip.
“I’m excited to play with my girls, my family and live this experience.”
Defending champion Kerri Einarson (6-0) and Ontario’s Rachel Homan (5-1) had their championship round berths in Pool A locked in Wednesday, with two spots still up for grabs in the evening draw.
Alberta’s Laura Walker (4-2), Beth Peterson’s wild-card rink (4-3) and Kerry Galusha of Northwest Territories (3-3) were still in contention.
The eight teams in the championship round Friday and Saturday bring their records with them, so the stakes are still high for Einarson and Homan when those two teams square off Thursday.
The top three from the championship round will be Sunday’s playoff teams, with the No. 1 seed earning the bye to that day’s final.
Saskatchewan’s Sherry Anderson and Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones are both at 4-2, wild card Chelsea Carey is at 4-3 and Prince Edward Island’s Suzanne Birt at 3-3 join Quebec in Pool B’s race to keep playing Friday at WinSport’s Markin MacPhail Centre.
Anderson edging Carey 8-7 and six-time champion Jones defeating Birt 9-5 shuffled the Pool B deck Wednesday.
“It was a must-win for us for sure,” Jones said. “We had to make some big shots in big moments which was really nice for our confidence and hopefully we’ll come out even better tomorrow.”
Homan, a three-time champion, took her first loss in the tournament when her team fell 7-5 to Galusha of the Northwest Territories in the Wednesday morning draw.
Galusha has yet to make the playoffs in 14 Scotties Tournament of Hearts appearances, but she has a history of roundrobin upsets over big names.
Galusha beat defending champion Jones in 2009, defending champion Amber Holland and eventual champion Heather Nedohin in 2012, and Nedohin again the following year.
“Sometimes we’re the underdog and tend to beat a big team, but honestly I’ve never come close to beating Rachel Homan before, so that was really huge for us,” Galusha said.