News National

NORTH BAY, Ont. — Kaitlyn Lawes may have only won two games over four days during the Boost National round-robin stage, but the Winnipeg skip and her club doubled their win total Saturday before snack time to advance to the semifinals.

Team Lawes, who finished their group with a 2-2 record, dispatched Team Wrana of Sweden 7-2 during the morning tiebreaker round to qualify for the playoffs and then ousted Team Homan 8-4 in an all-Canadian clash during the early afternoon quarterfinals.

Lawes, whose previously lone win over Rachel Homan as a skip came in the 2009 Canadian junior final, stole three off the bat in the first end and never trailed. Tied 4-4 in the sixth, Lawes regained control with a deuce and then stole two points in the seventh to knock out the 11-time Grand Slam champion Homan.

It’s the first Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tournament for the all-new team of Lawes, third Selena Njegovan, second Jocelyn Peterman and lead Kristin MacCuish. Lawes returned to her skip roots this year after 12 seasons with Jennifer Jones where she won Olympic gold and six Grand Slam titles. She also captured the world championship in this very building in 2018.

Lawes will now play Team Tirinzoni after the Swiss squad walked it off with a score of four in the eighth end to eliminate the new Team Jones 7-3.

Meanwhile, Canada’s Team Einarson advanced with a 6-2 victory over Team Keiser of Switzerland. Einarson will face No. 1 seed Team Fujisawa after the Japanese club edged South Korea’s Team Gim 7-5 in an extra end.

The men’s quarterfinals feature Sweden’s Team Edin vs. Canada’s Team Flasch, Team Koe vs. Team Dunstone in an all-Canadian game, Canada’s Team Gushue vs. Switzerland’s Team Brunner and Canada’s Team Bottcher vs. Team Dropkin from the United States.

Live coverage begins at 4 p.m. ET on Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet 360 with online streaming at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).

The men’s and women’s semifinals go down at 8 p.m. ET on Sportsnet 360. Both finals are set 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.