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Eight Ends: Carey keeps calm to claim Scotties title

Team Alberta lived up to their punny motto: Keep Calm and Carey On.

The Calgary-based crew of skip Chelsea Carey, third Amy Nixon, second Jocelyn Peterman, and lead Laine Peters never let the pressure get to them as the host team at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Grande Prairie, Alta., en route to claiming the national championship Sunday thanks to their confidently cool demeanour.

Team Carey cruised right out of the gate and finished the round robin portion with a 9-2 record to secure the top spot for the playoffs. Carey stepped it up a notch in the page playoffs shooting the lights out with an outstanding 96 percentage during a 7-5 win in the 1 vs. 2 game to knock off defending champ Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg.

Carey was in control during the final against Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville. It looked like the momentum might have shifted when she gave up a deuce and the lead in the seventh, however, Carey matched with a pair of her own in eight to pull back ahead, held McCarville to a single in nine and then made the high-pressure draw in the 10th for the 7-6 win.

1st End: Rocky road leads to national title

A lot has changed for Carey in the past year from a curling free agent to Canadian champion.

Following a loss to Val Sweeting in the 2015 Alberta provincial final, Carey parted ways with her team. Meanwhile, Heather Nedohin decided to step back from competitive curling and Nixon, Peterman, and Peters didn’t have to search far to find a new skip.

There were growing pains to start as Carey said prior to the Scotties it was “a bit of a roller-coaster” as they looked to establish chemistry and put in consistent performances on tour. Carey believes it wasn’t until the Meridian Canadian Open in mid-December they were finally on the right track.

The team couldn’t have found a better time to click together avenging two losses to Sweeting during provincials to win the Alberta final and then rolled on through the national Scotties tournament.

The Scotties win qualified them for the Humpty’s Champions Cup running April 26 to May 1 in Sherwood Park, Alta. They’re also guaranteed spots to the Canada Cup, the 2017 Continental Cup in Las Vegas, and a return trip to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts next year as Team Canada.

2nd End: Women’s worlds field shaping up

Next up, Carey will represent Canada one province over in Swift Current, Sask., during next month’s women’s world curling championship. Canada has had a bit of a gold medal drought at this event with Jones being the last canuck to top the podium in 2008.

American Erika Brown, Scotland’s Eve Muirhead, and Binia Feltscher of Switzerland and among the teams that have also qualified and should challenge for the crown as well.

3rd End: McCarville takes a ride on the steal train

McCarville garnered attention earlier in the week during the round robin when she stole two in the 10th and again in the extra end to edge Nova Scotia’s Jill Brothers 9-7.

The steal train was running full steam during the playoffs Saturday with McCarville swiping a point in nine and two coming home to beat Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson and again in the semifinal taking two in nine and one in the 10th when Jones came up light on the draw.

It was possible for McCarville to steal her way to the Scotties title with Carey needing her final shot of the game to win, however, the Alberta skip made no mistake on the draw.

It was an impressive week for the Thunder Bay, Ont., based rink who have been on quite a run this season also picking up four World Curling Tour titles. McCarville’s Colonial Square Ladies Classic win in November helped them qualify for the Humpty’s Champions Cup.

4th End: Scotties takeaways

— Jones bounced back from consecutive playoff losses to beat Einarson 8-7 for the bronze medal. Jones topped Einarson for the provincial crown a year ago and they could square off for the Manitoba spot again at next year’s playdowns.

— It was a dramatic finish to the round robin with Einarson scoring three in the last end to edge New Brunswick’s Sylvie Robichaud 7-6 Friday morning. Manitoba’s win meant there wouldn’t be any tiebreakers and eliminated the 6-5 record teams of Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan.

— Robichaud’s loss also meant New Brunswick will have to play in the pre-qualifying round at next year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts against Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon. Robichaud finished tied with Karla Thompson of B.C. at the bottom of the table at 2-7, however, Thompson beat Robichaud during the round robin to avoid having her province drop to the pre-qualifying round for the second consecutive year.

5th End: Brier bound

From one national championship to another, the Tim Hortons Brier gets underway in Ottawa this week starting with the pre-qualifier round Thursday between Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, and Yukon.

The main round robin begins Saturday with a match-up between two favourites to win it all: Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue versus Manitoba’s Mike McEwen. Both skips look to capture their first national championship with Gushue competing in his 13th Brier (lucky number?) while McEwen makes his first appearance as a Brier “rookie.”

The stacked Brier also sees Team Canada’s Pat Simmons take on 2006 winner Jean-Michel Menard of Quebec while four-time champ Glenn Howard of Ontario goes up against two-time winner Kevin Koe of Alberta … and that’s just the opening draw! Add Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs, Sakatchewan’s Steve Laycock, Jim Cotter of B.C., and others to mix and you have quite possibly the best field the Brier has seen in years.

6th End: U of A sweeps Western Canadian titles

Both University of Alberta curling teams are another step closer to repeating as national champions.

The men’s Golden Bears team, skipped by Thomas Scoffin, ran the table with a perfect 4-0 record through the Western Canadian University Curling championships on home ice this past weekend at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton.

Meanwhile, the women’s Pandas team, skipped by Kelsey Rocque, finished 3-1 overall. Rocque clinched the title with an 8-3 victory over Thompson Rivers University, skipped by Corryn Brown, in a battle between Canadian junior champs.

The U of A rinks now aim to defend their national titles at the CIS/Curling Canada Canadian University Curling Championships running March 20-23 in Kelowna, B.C. An extra incentive this year is the winners will represent Canada at the 2017 Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

7th end: Muirhead family wins everything

Eve Muirhead skipped her team to the Go Coco Scottish Curling Championships women’s title. Her brother Glen claimed the Scottish men’s title playing third for Tom Brewster.

Now add a third national trophy in the span of only a couple weeks for the family with their father Gordon winning the Scottish senior men’s title Sunday to complete the trifecta.

8th End: Schedule set for Elite 10

In case you missed it, the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling released the draw schedule for its next event, the Elite 10, running March 17-20 in Victoria. Kicking things off will be a rematch of last year’s final between defending champion Mike McEwen and runner-up Niklas Edin.

Canadian Open champions Rachel Homan and John Epping clash in the second draw as Team Homan will become the first women’s rink to compete in a men’s Pinty’s GSOC invitational since Sportsnet acquired the series in 2012.

Visit thegrandslamofcurling.com/tickets to purchase your passes today.