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Provincial tracker: Carey, Fleury clinch Scotties spots

Provincial curling championships are underway to determine the men’s and women’s teams for the Tim Hortons Brier and Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Jump to: AB | MB | NB | NS | ON | SK | Scotties/Brier teams

Alberta

Now that’s how you book your ticket to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Calgary’s Chelsea Carey pulled off a spectacular shot in the ninth end with a triple takeout to score four points to ice an 8-3 victory over Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque in the Alberta women’s final.

The foursome of Carey, third Sarah Wilkes, second Dana Ferguson and lead Rachel Brown reached the final with an undefeated record having advanced to the playoffs through the A Event of the triple knockout stage at 3-0 and downed Rocque 10-2 in Saturday’s Page A-B playoff game. Carey captured the Alberta and Canadian championships in 2016 with an entirely different lineup and joined forces with her current teammates at the start of this season.

Rocque rolled out early and doubled up Jodi Marthaller’s Calgary club 12-6 in eight ends during the semifinal earlier to set up the rematch.

Carey had to settle for a single in the second but got it back with back-to-back steals. Sitting two counters in the third, Carey forced Rocque to make a difficult draw through the port that passed one but came up short of outcounting the other. Carey held shot rock in four sitting on the button and Rocque was unable to draw in to score as her shooter over-curled and crashed into the top of the pile.

An open draw for a deuce from Rocque in the fifth end closed the gap and she put the pressure on in the seventh sitting four counters forcing Carey to a single that made it 4-2.

Rocque avoided giving up a steal in the eighth and escaped with a single after her shooter rubbed off of a guard, redirected in off another and tapped Carey’s shot stone to score.

Manitoba

Tracy Fleury’s team emerged victorious after a wild Manitoba Scotties final to represent the province at next month’s Canadian women’s curling championship.

Fleury fought back after giving up an early five-ender to erase the deficit, steal the lead and maintain the momentum in the 13-7 comeback victory over hometown favourites Team Kerri Einarson during Sunday’s championship game in Gimli.

It’ll be Fleury’s fourth trip to the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts but her first wearing the Buffalo patch with third Selena Njegovan, second Liz Fyfe and lead Kristin MacCuish.

The Sudbury native Fleury competed for Ontario at the Canadian women’s curling championship in 2012 and Northern Ontario in 2015 and 2018. She linked up with Njegovan, Fyfe and MacCuish this season. The trio won the Manitoba Scotties in 2016 and grabbed silver at nationals last year as the first-ever wildcard entry with Einarson.

Meanwhile, Einarson appears to have another chance to enter the Scotties Tournament of Hearts via the wildcard play-in game against an opponent to be determined. Her new crew with former skips Val Sweeting (third), Shannon Birchard (second) and Briane Meilleur (lead) sit in second place on the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) standings.

Things didn’t start off so good for Fleury, who opened with the hammer and had a tricky tap for two, but her shooter rolled away and she had to settle for a single.

The trouble with Tracy continued into the second as her first skip stone flashed through the house and Einarson added a fourth rock to her pile. Fleury drew on her last down the middle but couldn’t bury it enough and Einarson made her pay by tapping it out to collect the count of five.

It was still early times and Fleury bounced back getting her tap for two points in three, forced Einarson to hit and stick around on the button for a single in four and erased the deficit in five to knot it up 6-6 heading into the break. A misfire on a double attempt from Einarson gave Fleury a freebie draw for three.

Fleury maintained the momentum into the sixth to sit two and cashed in the steal for the 8-6 lead as Einarson came up light on her last.

Einarson eyed a blank in the seventh stage but made an error on the hit and roll with her shooter staying in the house for a single.

Fleury stayed in control and drew for a deuce in eight to extend her lead to 10-7 and tacked on three more points in the ninth as Einarson rolled right through the house on her last.

Team Fleury booked their spot in the final scoring two in the ninth end to fend off Winnipeg’s Team Darcy Robertson 8-6 during the Page 1-2 playoff Saturday night. Einarson ousted Winnipeg’s Abby Ackland 6-4 in the 3-4 game and toppled Robertson 11-4 earlier Sunday in the semifinal to advance.

Although Einarson led the Asham Group during round-robin play with a 6-1 record, which would have earned her a spot in the 1-2 game in previous years, the rules were changed this season to take the top teams overall regardless of pools.

Robertson secured the No. 1 seed with an unblemished 7-0 record in the Asham Express Group. Fleury, who lost to Robertson in pool play, went 6-1 and edged out Einarson for the No. 2 spot based on draw-to-the-button shootout scores.

Jennifer Jones did not return to defend the Manitoba title as her Winnipeg-based squad earned the Team Canada auto-berth spot to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Feb. 16-24 in Sydney, N.S., as the reigning national champions.

New Brunswick

Make it eight New Brunswick Scotties titles for Andrea Crawford.

Crawford bounced Sarah Mallais 6-3 in Sunday’s provincial women’s curling championship game in Moncton and book her first trip back to the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts since 2014.

It was an undefeated run for Team Crawford, who topped the round-robin table at 4-0 to earn the direct bye to the final.

Mallais ousted defending champion Sylvie Robichaud 9-7 during Saturday’s semifinal. Both posted 2-2 round-robin records.

Meanwhile, Terry Odishaw captured the New Brunswick Tankard with a 7-4 victory over James Grattan.

Nova Scotia

Dartmouth’s own Stuart Thompson is off to the Tim Hortons Brier after capturing the Nova Scotia Deloitte Tankard on home ice.

Thompson beat Jamie Murphy 6-4 in Sunday’s final. Down by a pair, Thompson jumped into the lead with a single in three followed by a steal of two in four. Murphy, a five-time champion competing in his eighth consecutive provincial final, settled for a single in seven and Thompson tacked two more points on the board in eight. The teams added alternating singles in the ninth and 10th ends.

It was Murphy’s lone loss of the week as his team posted a perfect 7-0 record in pool play to head straight to the final. Thompson defeated Chad Stevens 7-4 in Saturday’s semifinal to advance after both finished tied for second overall with matching 5-2 records.

Earlier, Jill Brothers stole two points in the final frame for a stunning 6-5 comeback over Mary-Anne Arsenault to capture her third Nova Scotia Scotties title.

Arsenault held the hammer coming home up by one but faced two counters on her last and attempted to raise a guard into the pile that missed the mark.

Team Brothers will represent the home side at the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts next month in Sydney, N.S.

Brothers ran through the round-robin with a 5-2 record for the No. 1 seed and a bye to the championship game. Arsenault edged out Kristen MacDiarmid 8-6 in the semifinal after both went 4-3 in pool play and qualified via tiebreakers.

Ontario

The Ontario Tankard and Scotties Tournament of Hearts are set to get underway in Elmira with the men’s draw starting Sunday evening at 7 p.m. ET.

John Epping opens his title defence against Rob Retchless, Colin Dow takes on Scott McDonald, Dayna Deruelle goes up against Glenn Howard, Greg Balsdon plays Pat Ferris and Mark Bice meets Charley Thomas in the opener.

The eight-team women’s field includes 2017 world champion Rachel Homan, defending Ontario champion Hollie Duncan, Cathy Auld, Chelsea Brandwood, Julie Tippin, Lauren Horton, Jestyn Murphy and Jacqueline Harrison with their round-robin play beginning Monday.

Saskatchewan

It was a rematch of last year’s Saskatchewan Viterra Scotties final but no repeat as Robyn Silvernagle stole a point in the 10th end to clip defending champion Sherry Anderson 6-5 in Humboldt and win her first provincial title.

Anderson held the hammer coming home tied up but had to make a tricky angle raise that failed.

The tight affair went back and forth with the teams alternating singles in the first couple ends followed by deuces in three and four. Silvernagle blanked consecutive ends in five and six until settling for a single in seven to go ahead 4-3. Anderson grabbed the lead for the first time with a deuce in eight then forced Silvernagle to another single to take back the hammer for the final frame.

Silvernagle slid into the final following an 8-3 win over Anderson during Saturday’s Page 1-2 playoff game. It was the third consecutive time and the charm Silvernagle was playing in the Saskatchewan final following runner-up results.

Anderson booked a return trip to the title match following a 9-5 win over Kristen Streifel during Sunday’s semifinal.

Scotties Tournament of Hearts/Tim Hortons Brier teams

Below is the list of teams who have qualified for the Scotties Tournament of Hearts (Feb. 16-24; Sydney, N.S.) and the Tim Hortons Brier (March 2-10; Brandon, Man.) or scheduled playdown dates.

Team Women’s Men’s
Canada (defending champions) Jennifer Jones Brad Gushue
Alberta Chelsea Carey Feb. 6-10
B.C. Jan. 29 – Feb. 3 Jan. 29 – Feb. 3
Manitoba Tracy Fleury Feb. 5-10
New Brunswick Andrea Crawford Terry Odishaw
Newfoundland & Labrador Kelli Sharpe Jan. 28 – Feb. 3
Northern Ontario Jan. 30 – Feb. 3 Jan. 30 – Feb. 3
Nova Scotia Jill Brothers Stuart Thompson
Ontario Jan. 27 – Feb. 3 Jan. 27 – Feb. 3
P.E.I. Suzanne Birt John Likely
Quebec Gabrielle Lavoie Martin Crete
Saskatchewan Robyn Silvernagle Feb. 6-10
Northwest Territories Kerry Galusha Feb. 6-11
Nunavut Jenine Bodner Dave St. Louis
Yukon Nicole Baldwin Feb. 7-10
Wildcard (play-in game) Feb. 15 March 1