Duncan holds off Einarson to stay B-side in Boost National
CHESTERMERE, Alta. — Team Hollie Duncan fended off a furious rally from Team Kerri Einarson to win 7-5 during Draw 10 action in the Boost National at Chestermere Recreation Centre.
Team Duncan, from Woodstock, Ont., improved to a 2-1 record to remain the B-side of the triple knockout stage.
The two-time reigning Players’ champions Team Einarson, of Gimli, Man., dropped into the C brackets at 1-2 and are on the brink of elimination.
Einarson held the hammer coming home down by one and almost completed the comeback by making a double on her first skip stone in the eighth and needing to make another on her last to either tie and force an extra end or win outright. Her shooter rolled out and Duncan tacked a stolen point on the board.
“It feels really good,” skip Hollie Duncan said. “We were up early and let them back in, so that was a bit frustrating. We got a miss out of her, which I think is pretty rare. We were fortunate to pull out the win.”
Duncan jumped out to a 5-1 lead at halftime drawing for deuces in the first and fourth ends while also picking up a steal in the second after Einarson misfired her last.
Einarson managed to erase the deficit, however, as she matched with a pair in five and tied it on a steal of two in the sixth as Duncan’s last missed both counters and slid right through the port.
Duncan hit and stuck around for just a single in the seventh to regain the lead but lost control of the hammer for the final frame.
Duncan said it was like deja vu from the day before where Team Anna Hasselborg was able to score three points in the eighth end to defeat her club 7-6.
“Halfway through the end it was not looking good but then on my first, it was like, OK if I make that we could be sitting a few and things could be looking better,” Duncan said. “Then she made a nice double and had a double to win but the curling gods were on our side this time.”
Elsewhere in Draw 10, Edmonton’s Team Kelsey Rocque bounced back into the win column thrashing Team Alina Kovaleva from Russia with a 9-1 rout in only five ends.
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Rocque regrouped after dropping a 9-3 decision to Team Jennifer Jones on Wednesday.
‘We definitely played a lot better than yesterday,” Team Rocque third Danielle Schmiemann said. “We picked up on the ice early, so that was nice. We made sure Kelsey had some easy shots. It feels good to be 2-1.”
Rocque (2-1) scored four in the first end and kept the pressure on as Kovaleva (1-2) struggled giving up a steal of one in the second and two in the third.
“I thought we had a really good pre-game practice and then came out in the first end really strong,” Schmiemann said. “Kelsey made a really great shot for four and that just set the pace for the rest of the game. We were able to figure out the ice, keep it consistent and that was good.”
Kovaleva, who won silver at the world championship last season, settled for a single in the fourth to break up the shutout but slid deep on her last in the fifth, allowing Rocque to draw for a deuce and out came the early fist bumps.
Sweden’s Team Isabella Wranå and Team Corryn Brown of Kamloops, B.C., both stole points in extra ends to reach the B-qualifiers at 2-1. Wranå swiped an 8-6 victory away from Ottawa’s Team Rachel Homan and Brown beat Team Min-Ji Kim of South Korea 5-4.
Rocque and Duncan will face off in the B-qualifiers Friday while Wranå and Brown both await losers of the A-finals later Thursday.
UP NEXT
The triple knockout stage continues with Draw 11 at 6 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. MT. Watch on Sportsnet West, Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).
TRIPLE KNOCKOUT EXPLAINED
The triple knockout consists of three brackets: A, B and C. Teams must win three games in order to qualify for the playoffs. Each loss drops a team to a lower bracket until they lose three games and are out of the tournament. Two A teams (3-0 records), three B teams (3-1 records) and three C teams (3-2 records) advance to the quarterfinals.
NO TICK ZONE
Teams cannot tick guards off of the centre line while the five-rock, free guard zone is in effect during the eighth and extra ends.
NOTES
The Boost National is the second of five events on the 2021-22 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule and features 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from around the world with a combined $300,000 prize purse. … The winning teams earning $33,000 plus spots in the season-ending KIOTI Tractor Champions Cup. … Triple knockout play runs through to Saturday morning. The quarterfinals and semifinals are also Saturday with both finals set for Sunday. … Tickets are available at boost.goigniter.com.
