News Masters

NORTH BAY, Ont. — Calgary’s Team Chelsea Carey came to play against Ottawa’s Team Rachel Homan during Thursday’s late afternoon draw of the Masters at Memorial Gardens.

The reigning Scotties Tournament of Hearts champions dropped their first couple of games of the pool play and needed a victory to stave off early elimination. Carey delivered in spades defeating Homan 8-6 to finally land in the win column.

“It feels really good,” Team Carey third Sarah Wilkes said. “We’ve had a pretty good start to the season and just struggled early here, so it feels good to put it all together, all four of us, and get a win out of it.”

Team Carey (1-2) enter their final group game with momentum against Team Tracy Fleury of East St. Paul, Man., on Friday afternoon.

“We’ve got to keep going because they’ve been playing really well,” Wilkes said. “We haven’t played them yet this season but they’ve had a really good start to the season, so we’re going to have to come out strong again to have a good game against them.”

Although it was a rematch of the Canadian women’s curling championship final, Carey didn’t need to claw back with late steals this time and instead jumped out of the gate and held on.

“It’s always a tight game playing against them no matter what the score is,” Wilkes said. “We just had to stay focused and bear down and keep the pressure on.”

Carey grabbed an early 3-0 lead drawing for a deuce in the first and stealing a point in the second.

The 10-time Grand Slam champion Homan recovered by drawing for a deuce in the third although an open hit in the fourth gave Carey another couple of points and re-established the three-point gap at 5-2.

Homan handed Carey another point in the fifth as her raise bump attempt slid right by the target.

A wicked cross-house double takeout scored a deuce for Homan in the sixth, but once again Carey was able to respond matching with a pair of points in the seventh thanks to third Sarah Wilkes setting the table with a double takeout and roll.

“It’s nice to perform under pressure,” said Wilkes, who threw 80 percent in the game. “It’s always a privilege to play out there but to make those big shots when it really matters, it feels great. That’s how we play.”

Despite the four-point gap, it still came down to skip stones, although Homan had nowhere to hide and an open hit from Carey ran her out of rocks.

“Earlier this year we had a big lead like that and then let it go, so it felt really good just to put together a whole game, hold the lead and get the W out of that,” Wilkes said.

Homan, who has won three Masters titles, also now holds a 1-2 record and a meeting with Team Fleury left on the schedule Friday evening.

Elsewhere, reigning world champions Team Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland moved to the top of the table at 3-0 with a 6-4 win over Team Robyn Silvernagle (1-2) from North Battleford, Sask.

Japan’s Team Sayaka Yoshimura improved to a 2-1 record clipping Fleury 5-4 in an extra end. Fleury is now even at 1-1.

In men’s action, Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat beat compatriots Team Ross Paterson 6-2 and Team Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene also stopped Team Scott McDonald with a 6-2 score in an all-Ontario affair.

Glenn is away on a golfing trip and his son Scott has moved up from third to skip this week. Adam Spencer is subbing at vice.

Mouat leads the men’s table at 3-0, Howard and Paterson hold 2-1 records while McDonald fell to 0-3.

The Masters features 15 of the top men’s teams and 15 of the top women’s teams from around the world. Both divisions are split into three pools of five for round-robin play with the top eight overall qualifying for the weekend playoffs. The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday with the finals set for Sunday.

The action continues at 8 p.m. ET with broadcast coverage on Sportsnet East, Ontario, Pacific, Sportsnet 360 and streaming online at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).

NOTES: The Masters is the first of six Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling events on the season and one of four majors in the series. … The total prize purse is $300,000 and is split evenly between the men’s and women’s divisions. Winners receive $35,000 plus berths towards the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup taking place April 29 to May 3, 2020, in Olds, Alta. … Also up for grabs at the Masters are Pinty’s Cup bonus points. The leaders following the conclusion of the Players’ Championship in April will capture the Pinty’s Cup with additional prize money awarded.