News Canadian Open

NORTH BATTLEFORD, Sask. — John Morris of Vernon, B.C., is heating up at the Meridian Canadian Open.

Morris (2-1) picked up his second win of the day scoring three in the seventh end to double up on Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers 6-3 Thursday evening.

Team Morris, who crushed American Heath McCormick 9-3 earlier Thursday, take on reigning world champion Kevin Koe of Calgary in the B-qualifiers Friday with a playoff spot on the line.

“We’re hanging in the B-side there,” Team Morris fourth Jim Cotter said. “Two really good wins today. We needed that. Obviously lost our first one so it’s good to bounce back today with a couple wins.”

It was a cat-and-mouse chase with the teams alternating singles back-and-forth through the first six ends as neither side was able to bite. Morris finally capitalized in the seventh when Carruthers crashed on a guard with his first skip stone, allowing Cotter to split the rings and then bang out two counters with his last to score three. 

“Sometimes the rinks just get shut down a little bit,” Cotter said. “We had a couple opportunities, they were tough shots at the same time, we missed a few of them but I felt really good today. The guys were really great in front of me and we were fortunate to pull out the win there.”

Carruthers (1-2) ran out of rocks in the eighth end and is now in must-win mode in the C brackets in order to qualify. 

Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., is also hanging on in the B stage with a 5-4 win over Greg Balsdon of Kingston, Ont. Trailing 3-1, Gushue (2-1) had an opportunity to hit for three points in the fourth end but took out one of his own on the way and only scored an equalizing deuce. However, the six-time Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title winner Gushue stole a point in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead. 

Balsdon, who won the Tour Challenge Tier 2 for a spot in this event, blanked the sixth and settled for a single in seven that tied it again but gave up the hammer coming home. Gushue made a clutch angle runback with the last rock in the eighth to remove Balsdon’s counter with his biter at the back of the 12-foot circle remaining untouched to count for the winning point. 

Team Gushue are off to the B-qualifiers and play Mike McEwen of Winnipeg. McEwen (2-1) scored a single in the extra end to win 8-7 over Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher (1-2).

Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock remains in the mix in the C event trumping McCormick 9-1. Laycock (1-2) has to win two more games consecutively to advance to the playoffs while McCormick (0-3) is out. 

In women’s division action, Tracy Fleury of Sudbury, Ont., is still in it to win it after an 8-2 rout over Chelsea Carey of Calgary to eliminate the reigning Canadian champion in the first round of the C-side. 

“We have a few sudden-death games ahead of us against great teams,” said Fleury, who improved to a 1-2 record. “It’s such a strong field so we have to play our best every game. We feel good about our game after this past one.” 

Fleury opened with a deuce and rolled away with a steal of one in the second, three in the third and swiped another in four to lead by six as Carey struggled with risky shots while attempting to get back in it. Carey (0-3) broke the shutout getting two in the fifth, but Fleury put another point on the scoreboard in six and that was the ball game. 

“The first couple games we just struggled a bit with execution,” Fleury said. “I think today we just came out stronger and made more shots.”

NOTES: The Meridian Canadian Open is the fourth event and third major of the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. … Winners of the Meridian Canadian Open earn spots for the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup taking place at the end of April in Calgary.