Lawes continues to climb at Boost National with win over Hasselborg
NORTH BAY, Ont. — It seems like Kaitlyn Lawes is getting the hang of skipping again.
Lawes, who returned to her skip roots with a new team this season, climbed to a 2-1 record in the Boost National with an 8-5 victory over Team Anna Hasselborg of Sweden in Draw 10 action Thursday at Memorial Gardens.
The Winnipeg skip Lawes — who won Olympic and world championships plus six Grand Slams while playing third for Jennifer Jones — is supported by third Selena Njegovan, second Jocelyn Peterman and lead Kristin MacCuish. They already have a tour title to their names, but the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling circuit is a different beast as they now see how they stack up against the world’s best.
So far, it’s looking good for the Canadian club. Winning the draw-to-the-button shootout for hammer against Hasselborg paid dividends as they were able to score two points in the first frame to establish the lead and never trailed against the double-defending Pinty’s Cup champions.
Hasselborg escaped with one in the second end after her last stone didn’t curl enough and only nudged Lawes’ rock. The measuring stick came out and awarded Hasselborg the point to her other stone touching the four-foot circle.
After Lawes was forced to draw for a single in the third, Hasselborg tied it up 3-3 in the fourth with a great double tap to score the equalizing two points.
A draw to the button for a deuce in the fifth end re-established the two-point advantage for Lawes and a huge miss from Hasselborg in the sixth made it an 8-3. The 2018 Olympic gold medallist was looking to hit and stick for three, but again her shooter didn’t curl up enough, glancing off and rolling out.
Hasselborg took two in the seventh end but shook hands midway through the eighth. The loss dropped Hasselborg, who is also the event’s double defending champion, to a 1-2 record and in danger of missing the playoffs.
Lawes shot 88 per cent in the game while Hasselborg fired at an 80 per cent clip despite her struggles in the second and sixth ends.
Meanwhile, Raphaela Keiser and her short-handed Swiss side are on a roll. Keiser climbed to a 3-0 record with a 6-3 win over Team Tabitha Peterson of the United States. Third Elena Mathis (illness) is not playing this week as lead Marina Lörtscher, fourth Selina Witschonke and Keiser, who skips and throws second, have carried on as a trio.
Speaking of Swiss squads at 3-0, Team Silvana Tirinzoni also earned their third consecutive win in the tournament.
Tirinzoni only needed two points in the eighth but took three for good measure to defeat Team Eun-Ji Gim of South Korea 8-6. Gim, who finished runner-up in the Kioti Tractor Champions Cup to end last season, now holds a 1-2 record.
Canada’s Team Chelsea Carey (1-2) claimed their pivotal first victory of the tournament with an 8-7 win over Germany’s Team Daniela Jentsch (0-3).
After settling for a single in the first, Carey put the game out of hand early by stealing five points in the second end. Jentsch cut the deficit in half with a deuce in four and a single steal in five but the gap was a tad too much to close completely. The teams matched pairs of points in six and seven and Carey gave up two points in the eighth end to prevail.
UP NEXT
The Boost National continues at 4 p.m. ET with broadcast coverage on Sportsnet and Sportsnet 360 plus streaming online via SN NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).
Round-robin play runs through to Friday as teams play four games against teams outside of their pool. The top eight overall, regardless of pools, advance to Saturday afternoon’s quarterfinals. The semifinals are set for Saturday evening and both finals are on tap for Sunday.
NOTES
The Boost National is the first of six events on the 2022-23 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling calendar and features 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from around the world. … A combined $300,000 purse, split equally between the men’s and women’s divisions, is on the line. The winning teams receive $35,000 and invitations to the season-ending Kioti Tractor Champions Cup. … Points are also up for grabs in the race for the Pinty’s Cup, which is awarded to the 2022-23 season champions with a $75,000 bonus for the winning teams.
