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Sinclair maintaining momentum at Champions Cup

CALGARY — American Jamie Sinclair came through in the clutch to climb to a 2-0 record at the Humpty’s Champions Cup.

The recently crowned Players’ champion drew to the button in an extra end to edge Ottawa’s Rachel Homan 5-4 during Wednesday afternoon’s action at WinSport Arena.

Team Sinclair became the first U.S. squad to win a Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title just a little over a week ago in Toronto and have picked up where they left off by also earning a win over Olympic gold medallist Anna Hasselborg to start the Humpty’s Champions Cup on Tuesday night.

“I think it was really important for us to continue the streak that we’re on,” Team Sinclair lead Monica Walker said. “We’ve been playing really well. We played two of the top teams here already and to have wins against both of them is pretty exciting.”

Sinclair took two in the second to open the scoring and forced Homan to a single in the fourth to lead 2-1 at the break. The defending champ Homan turned the tables in the second half limiting Sinclair to one in the fifth and getting a deuce in six to knot it up 3-3.

After Sinclair settled for another single in seven, Homan made a runback double takeout on her last in the eighth to get the equalizer and require overtime.

Although Sinclair’s first skip stone in the extra end sailed through the rings untouched, she rebounded on her second navigating the draw path to land on the lid.

“I think that’s a huge confidence boost for us because it’s something that we’re always working on and to nail it is just an example of how our team’s systems are working really well,” Walker said. “We’re excited to win on that kind of shot.”

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Elsewhere in Draw 4, Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones thumped Edmonton’s Val Sweeting 8-1 to begin a new winning streak.

“I felt we got comfortable with the ice,” Team Jones lead Dawn McEwen said. “Jenn knew where to put the broom and we figured out speed pretty quickly, which is always nice to do in your first game.”

Jones settled for a single to start but managed to build a 3-0 lead with back-to-back steals in two and three. Sweeting (0-2) got on the board in the fourth and Jones pulled away with a deuce in five on a tricky runback that even earned praise from her competitors.

“That was a sweet shot,” McEwen said. “That was hard. She had no air to make that so it was a great shot. They were impressed too but Jenn’s been making awesome, clutch shots this year. It’s great.”

Facing three and no chance to score in six, Sweeting earned style points instead sliding with her rock all the way into the house.

Jones was riding high undefeated in 27 games starting midway in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts right through the world championship and into the Players’ Championship until coming to a halt against Sinclair in the final.

The Humpty’s Champions Cup is a bit of a send-off for second Jill Officer, who plans to step back into an alternate role next season with Team Carey’s Jocelyn Peterman coming on board.

“It’s just all about really enjoying it and having fun this week, especially with Jill,” McEwen said. “This is her last event with the team full-time, so we’re just going to really enjoy it, have fun, try and play well and see what happens.”

In men’s play, Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., earned an 8-3 win to start over world junior champion Tyler Tardi of Langley, B.C.

Glenn Howard of Tiny, Ont., also scored big to begin his tournament toppling Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen 10-4.

Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., scored five in the third and doubled up on Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers 10-5. Jacobs (1-1) bounced back to split his day after giving up steals in seven and eight to fall 5-3 to American Greg Persinger in the morning draw.

Round-robin action continues with Draw 5 at 8 p.m. MT at WinSport Arena. Television coverage begins Thursday at 2 p.m. ET (Noon MT) on Sportsnet with online streaming available at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare TV (international).