News Tour Challenge

CRANBROOK, B.C. — Recent WFG Masters winner Allison Flaxey of Caledon, Ont., has kept the momentum running right through the Tour Challenge Tier 1 finishing pool play with an unblemished 4-0 record.

Flaxey extended her winning streak to nine games with a 4-3 victory over Michelle Englot’s Winnipeg-based team Friday afternoon.

Both Flaxey and Ottawa’s Rachel Homan posted perfect round-robin records, however, Flaxey finished with a better draw-to-the-button shootout score to take the No. 1 seed for Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Team Flaxey took the long road through the WFG Masters two weeks ago in Okotoks, Alta., needing a tiebreaker to qualify for the playoffs en route to their first Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling women’s title and second Lynn Kreviazuk said it felt a lot better advancing through the front door this time. 

“We came off of a really good win two weeks ago now so it really shows that we deserve to be here so it’s great,” she said. “We’re always battling and having great games against the best teams in the world.”

“It’ll be nice knowing we don’t have to deal with tiebreakers,” Kreviazuk added. “Although we put ourselves in that situation last time and we knew how to handle it but it’s nice being on the other side.” 

Flaxey trailed 2-1 at the fourth-end break, took two for the lead in the fifth and stole one in the sixth to go up by two points. Englot (2-2) could only get one in the seventh.

“Even though we were guaranteed moving on that game was really good for us to build our confidence a little bit,” Kreviazuk said. “We had a tough one the night before. We were trying to figure out the rocks and figure out the ice so we’re trying to take a breath and figure it out.” 

Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones (3-1) is through to the quarterfinals after clipping Anna Hasselborg 9-8 in an extra end. Hasselborg finished pool play at 2-2 and awaits the results of next draw to determine her team’s fate.

Meanwhile, Team Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., closed out their round-robin portion at 3-1 with a 7-3 win over Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers (2-2).

Mark Nichols, who normally plays third, is skipping for the seventh event to start the season with Brad Gushue out indefinitely due to a hip/groin injury. Adam Spencer is filling in at vice this week and has been part of a spare rotation helping them capture the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard last month. 

“It’s a little different. You don’t get any easy games out here. Everyone knows how to play,” Spencer said. “It’s the five-rock rule so there aren’t a lot of opportunities to just run a few ends if you get a lead. You basically have to stick to the offence and be comfortable with a lot of rocks in play.”

“Every event I play with them I feel a little bit more part of the team,” he added. “The main thing I’m trying to do is just contribute in a positive manner and try not to disrupt the chemistry too much.”

Team Gushue scored three in the first and stole one in the second for an early 4-0 advantage. Carruthers cut the deficit in half with a deuce in the third, however, Team Gushue re-established the four-point hold with a single in the fourth followed by a steal of one in the fifth. The teams alternated singles in six and seven.

“It was a tough game,” Spencer said. “We got out to a big lead but we knew it wasn’t going to be safe for long because those guys are super aggressive and they know how to manufacture points. We got a little lucky there in the fifth, they could have scored three or four and we got lucky to steal. We just tried to keep it clean after that.”

Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud (2-2) stayed in the chase with a 6-3 victory over Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. The Olympic gold medallist Jacobs (1-2) has one more round-robin game in the evening against Calgary’s Kevin Koe (1-2) with the winner moving on and the loser going home.

Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher (1-2) is still in the mix picking up his first win beating Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock 6-3. Laycock started the tournament with two wins but dropped a pair in a row to finish pool play at 2-2.

NOTES: The Tour Challenge is the second of seven events on the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule. … Tour Challenge action continues Friday at 4:30 p.m. MT with TV coverage on Sportsnet and online/mobile on Sportsnet NOW. … The Tour Challenge runs through to Sunday at Western Financial Place (all Tier 1 games and Tier 2 finals) and Memorial Arena (Tier 2 games from round-robin play to semifinals).