News Tour Challenge

CHARLOTTETOWN — All Kerri Einarson wanted for her birthday was a win in the HearingLife Tour Challenge.

Consider it a happy birthday for Einarson as her Gimli, Man., club scored a huge steal of four in the sixth end to down Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg 7-1 during Draw 10 action Thursday at the Bell Aliant Centre.

The first Grand Slam of Curling event of the season features triple knockout — with A, B and C Event brackets — where teams must win three games before they lose three to advance to the playoffs.

Einarson, who turned 37, improved to a 2-1 record to reach the B-qualifiers with her team now having two opportunities to move onto the quarterfinals.

“Hopefully we don’t need that extra one but it’s good to have two chances and two cracks at it,” Einarson said. “We know what we need to do to keep rolling off of this win. We’ve got tough ones to come.”

Einarson has a revamped roster this week. Alternate Krysten Karwacki is in for lead Briane Harris, who is appealing her provisional suspension for testing positive for a banned substance with a decision expected to be announced soon. Super spare Dawn McEwen, a winner of eight Grand Slams with skip Jennifer Jones, has come out of retirement again to fill in for second Shannon Birchard, who is recovering from a knee injury.

“I love playing with Dawn. She brings so much energy to the game,” Einarson said. “She’s definitely a person that I lean to and we joke around and laugh together. I love having her a part of the team.”

Einarson said Birchard is doing well and feeling better.

“We miss both her and Briane and we’re definitely thinking about them,” Einarson said. “Hoping for a speedy recovery. She’s got some work done, she’s been going to physio and stuff so she’s feeling not too bad.”

The first half saw a few missed opportunities. Einarson attempted to hit and stick for two in the first, however, her shooter rolled out and she only counted one. The point that got away came back to Einarson in the second though. The five-time Grand Slam champion had shot rock frozen on the button and Hasselborg couldn’t unlock it as her tap jammed it to give up a steal.

It was a bit of deja vu but with the tables turned in the third as Hasselborg looked to hit and stick for a deuce but her shooter spilled out of the house and it was just a single.

Team Einarson third Val Sweeting flashed a rock through the rings in the fifth, allowing Hasselborg to sit three in the house and set up a force. Einarson capped the end with a hit for one and a 3-1 lead.

It was all over after the sixth though as Einarson lied four counters and stole them all. Hasselborg had an unfortunate pick on her last and shook hands.

“It feels pretty good. The girls all played well in front of me,” Einarson said. “I got caught in a couple of paths, unfortunately. It’s a little pathy if you’re playing your first paths but you’ve got to be careful. We finished strong and a nice triple and a steal of four, you can’t ask for anything better.”

Hasselborg dropped to a 1-2 record and into the last-chance C Event.

Elsewhere in B Event action, Ottawa’s Team Rachel Homan downed Team Satsuki Fujisawa of Japan 9-1. Homan shot a perfect 100 per cent as her team scored four in the second, stole a pair in the third, two more in the fourth plus another point in the fifth.

Sweden’s Team Isabella Wranå beat Team Eun-jung Kim 6-4 and Team Xenia Schwaller defeated Team Silvana Tirinzoni 9-5 in an all-Swiss showdown.

Homan, Wranå and Schwaller all reached the B-qualifiers at 2-1.

Fujisawa, Kim and Tirinzoni fell into the C Event at 1-2.

UP NEXT

Triple knockout play continues with Draw 11 at 4 p.m. AT / 3 p.m. ET. Watch live on Sportsnet, Sportsnet One and Sportsnet+.

Tickets are available at tourchallenge.goigniter.com and online streaming for all Tier 1 games available here at thegrandslamofcurling.com.

NOTES

The HearingLife Tour Challenge features 64 of the best men’s and women’s teams from around the world split into two tiers. … Tier 2 winners receive invitations to the WFG Masters in January. … Eight teams in each division qualify for Saturday’s quarterfinals … The semifinals are also scheduled for Saturday with the finals set for Sunday.