News Champions Cup

CALGARY — Olympic gold medallist Anna Hasselborg of Sweden turned in another solid performance at the Humpty’s Champions Cup.

Hasselborg improved to a 2-1 record after taking a 6-2 set over Ottawa’s Rachel Homan during the ninth round-robin draw Thursday evening at WinSport Arena.

Even with the loss on a steal against American Jamie Sinclair in the opening draw, Hasselborg has felt her team has played sharp throughout the season finale Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tournament.

“We had a good game to start off with a disappointing finish but we have been playing really well for all these three games,” Hasselborg said. “So, 2-1 feels good.”

Hasselborg was in charge right from the start securing the hammer in the opening draw-to-the-button shootout and converting on a tap for two points in the first frame.

“It’s very important to start [with] hammer against Homan because they’re such a strong hammer team,” Hasselborg said. “We are a decent hammer team too, so it’s nice to start off with it.”

The defending champion Homan, who represented Canada at the Pyeongchang Winter Games, was forced to draw for just a single in the second and Hasselborg was also held to one in the third to re-establish the two-point gap.

Things went sideways for Homan starting in the fourth as she was heavy on the draw and Hasselborg swiped two points to extend her advantage to 5-1.

That didn’t stop Hasselborg from easing off of the pressure, however. Homan looked to get back into it in the fifth, aiming to raise her own guard and score, but didn’t curl enough and chipped off the top of another stone to give up one more point.

“That’s the thing with the five-rock rule, you cannot put the brakes on. You have to just keep on pushing,” Hasselborg said. “You could lose a big end that we almost did here but you have to keep on the pressure and we were lucky to come up with some steals.”

Homan had one in her pocket in six but couldn’t capitalize for more as her last rock crashed on a Hasselborg stone in the house and out came the handshakes.

Team Homan fell to a 1-2 record and must win their final round-robin game Friday against Kristen MacDiarmid’s club from Halifax to remain in contention.

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Elsewhere in the ninth draw, Calgary’s Chelsea Carey got back on track fending off Delia DeJong of Grande Prairie 8-7 in a Battle of Alberta.

Carey, who dropped an 8-2 decision to Switzerland’s Alina Paetz on Wednesday night, climbed to a 2-1 record while DeJong (2-2) has wrapped up her round-robin early and now plays the waiting game.

“It’s nice to get another win,” Team Carey second Jocelyn Peterman said. “We didn’t have our greatest game last night and then we’re back on the same sheet today so it was nice to finish it with a win.”

The Meridian Canadian Open champion Carey pulled ahead 5-2 with a four-ender in the third, but DeJong responded with a three count in the fourth to tie it up. The teams alternated deuces in five and six and Carey had to throw a hard hit in the eighth to score the winning point.

“It was not our best game but it was nice to make some shots in the last end under pressure and sneak out the win,” Peterman said.

Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni has qualified for the playoffs after climbing to a 3-0 record with a 6-4 victory over Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson (2-1). Tirinzoni also toppled reigning world champion Jennifer Jones 7-2 in the afternoon knocking off both finalists from this year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts in one swoop.

“It would have been great to win one of those two against tough opponents but to win both of the games was even a bonus,” Tirinzoni said. “We are glad that we’re already through to the playoffs. We don’t have to worry about that anymore and now we can enjoy the last round-robin game tomorrow and focus for the playoffs.”

Tirinzoni took three in the first end and maintained the pace with singles back and forth to lead 5-2 after six ends. Einarson closed within one taking two in the seventh, but Tirinzoni tacked another point in the board with the hammer coming home.

“It’s always nice to lead the game but also when you’re leading that early, it’s a long way to the eighth end and especially with the five-rock rule, it’s never easy to defend a lead,” Tirinzoni said. “It’s almost impossible, actually. We were in some trouble there in that one end in the fourth end so we got lucky there but other than that it was a great performance.”

Scotland’s Eve Muirhead (3-0) has already clinched a playoff spot too with an 8-3 victory over Paetz (1-2).

Sinclair, who beat MacDiarmid 3-1 in the morning draw, is also through to the playoffs at 3-0.

In the lone men’s match, Mike McEwen topped Jason Gunnlaugson 5-3 in an all-Winnipeg team contest. Both teams hold 2-1 records.

The Humpty’s Champions Cup features 15 men’s teams and 15 women’s teams that won events over the course of the season in order to qualify for entry. Teams play four round-robin games during the week with the top eight overall advancing to the weekend playoffs.

Round-robin action continues Friday at 8:30 a.m. MT at WinSport Arena with television coverage resuming at Noon MT on Sportsnet plus online streaming available at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare TV (international).