News Tour Challenge

CRANBROOK, B.C. — Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque is still in the mix at the Tour Challenge powering past Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson 11-5 during Draw 12 action Friday. 

Rocque will play Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland in a tiebreaker Saturday morning after the defending champion finished off Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson 5-3 to move on. 

Both finished with 2-2 records and the two-time world junior champion Rocque said it’s nice to play for another day.

“We knew we had to go out there and win that,” Rocque said. “It feels good to come away with a win and give ourselves a chance moving forward.” 

Rocque stole three points in the first end when Einarson glanced off of one of the counters and rolled out. Einarson had an opportunity to tie it in the second after Rocque flashed her last, however, her rock followed the same path and also rolled right through the rings to only score a deuce. Rocque made it rain threes again like Steph Curry in the third end with a great double takeout to extend her lead 6-2.

Einarson had another opportunity to score three in the fourth but clipped a guard and settled for another deuce. The teams traded singles in five and six and Rocque put the game away with a four-ender in seven.

“It wasn’t the most well-played game but we took advantage of the opportunities that we had,” Rocque said. “It’s nice to come out with a win.”

Einarson and Sigfridsson head home winless with identical 0-4 records.

Meanwhile, Edmonton’s Val Sweeting is through to the quarterfinals at 3-1 after defeating Alina Paetz of Switzerland 6-3. Paetz is out at 1-3.

Japan’s Ayumi Ogasawara and Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg will play in a tiebreaker during the evening draw alongside Chelsea Carey of Calgary and Michelle Englot’s Winnipeg-based team. All four teams finished pool play with 2-2 records.

John Morris of Vernon, B.C., clinched the top seed on the men’s side of the quarterfinals taking down Scotland’s David Murdoch 8-3 to remain undefeated. Morris (4-0) broke a tie game with a three count in the fifth end and stole two in the sixth to bring out handshakes and eliminate Murdoch (1-3). 

American John Shuster brought his record level to 2-2 to stay in play downing Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen 7-2 in five ends. McEwen already clinched a playoff spot and moves onto the quarterfinals with a 3-1 record. Shuster’s fate is TBD pending the results of the final round-robin draw in the evening.

NOTES: The Tour Challenge is the second of seven events on the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule. … Tour Challenge action continues Friday at 8 p.m. MT with TV coverage on Sportsnet East, Ontario, Pacific and ONE and online/mobile on Sportsnet NOW. … The Tour Challenge runs through to Sunday at Western Financial Place (all Tier 1 games and Tier 2 finals) and Memorial Arena (Tier 2 games from round-robin play to semifinals).