News National

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — Sponsor’s exemption Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay, Ont., has draw level with a 1-1 record at the Boost National.

McCarville fell to defending champion Rachel Homan of Ottawa 8-2 in her first game and bounced back big time hammering Allison Flaxey of Caledon, Ont., 8-3 during Draw 6 Thursday morning.

“We had a little bit of a rough game against Homan yesterday,” Team McCarville third Kendra Lilly said. “We didn’t play like we knew we could so we wanted to go out today and play hard.”

Tied 2-2, McCarville rolled away scoring three points in the fourth end and stealing three in the fifth after Flaxey crashed on a guard. 

“Allison Flaxey had an unfortunate miss on her first and even on Krista’s last we gave a chance for her,” Lilly said. “The ice was a little bit tricky today and it was a tough shot for her to make one. We got a little fortunate and stole the three. That pretty much locked it away.”

The reigning Masters champion Flaxey (1-1) was forced to a single in the sixth and shook hands.

In the men’s division, Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher bumped his record up to 2-1 shutting out sponsor’s exemption Tanner Horgan of Sudbury, Ont., 8-0 in five ends. Bottcher blanked the first three ends and his patience to score paid off with a count of three in the fourth and then put the game away stealing five in the fifth. Horgan, the Canadian junior silver medallist, has a 0-3 record.

Toronto’s John Epping (2-0) scored a 5-3 victory over Scotland’s David Murdoch (0-2), John Morris (1-1) and his Vernon, B.C., team were victorious 6-1 over Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz (1-2) and Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen (1-1) earned a 6-4 decision over Edmonton’s Charley Thomas (1-1).

NOTES: The Boost National is the third event and second major of the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. … Round-robin action continues Thursday at Noon ET with television coverage on Sportsnet. … The Boost National runs through to Sunday afternoon at the Essar Centre.