News Tour Challenge

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. — Team Einarson and Team Lawes climbed to 2-0 records at the midway mark of round-robin play in the HearingLife Tour Challenge.

Einarson defeated Team Scheidegger 8-5 and Lawes hammered Team Carey 9-2 during all-Canadian clashes in Draw 5 at the Coca-Cola Centre.

“It’s definitely good to get off on a good note and have two wins under your belt going in,” skip Kerri Einarson said. “We’ve got a couple tough games left. We’re playing really, so we’ve just got to keep up with that.”

The four-time Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling women’s champion Einarson finished runner-up to Switzerland’s Team Tirinzoni two weeks ago at the Boost National in North Bay, Ont., and is set for a rematch Thursday. Einarson and Lawes also meet to close out round-robin play Friday night.

“It’s really nice to be sitting at 2-0 going into the second half of our round-robin,” skip Kaitlyn Lawes said. “We’re feeling really good.” 

Deuces were wild as Einarson scored four pairs of points in all of the odd ends while Scheidegger was forced to a single in the second but also took two in the fourth and sixth stanzas. Scheidegger (0-2) held the hammer coming home, however, Einarson ran them out of rocks.

“We got off to a really great start and applied some pressure early,” Einarson said. “Scoring deuces are always nice.”

Meanwhile, Lawes settled for a single to start but then stole two points in the second to build an early 3-0 hold. Carey (0-2) was forced to a single in the third and Lawes pulled away with a three-ender in the fifth. Those scores repeated as Carey was limited to another lone point in the sixth and Lawes tacked three more on the board in the seventh.

“We got some rocks in some good spots early,” Lawes explained. “We’re lucky that we just had an open shot for the bonus points. Everyone was playing really well and they made my life really easy out there.”

Switzerland’s Team Tirinzoni and Team Kim of South Korea also improved to 2-0 records. Tirinzoni made quick work of Team Peterson of the United States with an 8-2 decision in five ends and Kim beat Switzerland’s Team Keiser 5-1.

Peterson and Kim also dropped to 0-2 records.

TIER 2 RESULTS

• Grandy 6, Skrlik 2
• Dupont 8, Moore 2
• Kelly 8, McCarville 7
• Hunkin 6, Sturmay 3

UP NEXT

The HearingLife Tour Challenge continues with Draw 6 at 12 p.m. MT.

Broadcast coverage begins Thursday at 2 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. MT on Sportsnet, Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).

NOTES

The HearingLife Tour Challenge is the second event on the 2022-23 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling calendar featuring two tiers and a total of 64 teams. Both tiers feature 16 men’s teams and 16 women’s teams. … Round-robin play runs through to Friday as teams play four games against opponents outside of their pool. … The top eight teams overall advance to Saturday afternoon’s quarterfinals. The semifinals are set for Saturday evening with both finals on tap for Sunday.