News National

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — Tour Challenge women’s champion Val Sweeting of Edmonton has grabbed the No. 1 seed for the Boost National quarterfinals.

Sweeting finished atop of the standings with an unblemished 4-0 record after stealing in an extra end to clip Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones 6-5 Friday afternoon during Draw 11.

Jones held the hammer in the additional frame and faced one counter, however, her draw shot rolled heavy and Sweeting swiped the victory. The six-time Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title winner Jones wrapped up pool play with a 2-2 record and will play at least another game.

Jones made a great hit through a narrow port to count three in the first and take a 3-0 lead. 

Sweeting drew for two points in the second splitting the rings and landing on the lid with her last. After a blank in three, Jones settled for a single in four. Sweeting blanked five and drew against four counters for one in the sixth after Jones kicked out a counter through the wickets. Jones was limited to another lone point in seven and Sweeting took two in eight to force the decisive extra end.

Elsewhere, Tracy Fleury is still in the mix with a 1-2 record after scoring three in the eighth end to lift her Sudbury, Ont., team past defending champion Rachel Homan of Ottawa 6-4.

“It was a tight game,” Fleury said. “The whole game was really close. It came down to a few shots here and there and we’re happy with how we played today.”

Homan, who defeated Fleury in the National women’s final last season, is clear through to the playoffs with a 3-1 record. Fleury has one more group game to go facing provincial rival Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay in the evening draw. 

“We have a tough day today, Homan and McCarville,” Fleury said. “We’re going to have to play well tonight but it’s still good to be in the competition. We still have a chance.”

Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson (3-1) rode a big six-ender in the seventh to rocket past Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque 9-6 and into the playoffs.

“It’s a relief to finally qualify in our first Slam this year,” Einarson said. “We’re definitely starting to peak and get better each game, which is good. The game was a little scary. We gave up a three. I had a tricky spot, I didn’t think it was going to fall and it did. A lot of the peels were actually curling up to the wings. Now I know why it fell because there was a ridge there. We came back and got six. I was very shocked.” 

The game was a good representation of Einarson’s season so far after not qualifying at the first two Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling events of the season. Rocque (0-3) scored three in the sixth as Einarson trailed 6-3 before the big comeback.

“When she came up light we were hesitant to put up another corner,” Einarson said. “We thought she would peel for sure but she didn’t she just went after it. We made eight great shots, put all eight together and we had a couple misses out of them, which was good for us.”

Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland (3-1) advanced with a 6-3 win over Scotland’s Eve Muirhead (1-3). Cathy Overton-Clapham, winner of two Grand Slam titles over the past couple seasons as a super spare, is filling in for Team Tirinzoni third Manuela Siegrist, who is out with a knee injury. 

Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., wrapped up men’s round-robin play undefeated at 4-0 stealing two points in the extra end to edge Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher 6-4. Gushue sat two in the extra without hammer, but Bottcher (2-2) was wide on his last to give up the game. Gushue is playing in his first event of the season after missing eight tournaments due to a hip/groin issue.

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 Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET with television coverage on Sportsnet. … The Boost National runs through to Sunday afternoon at the Essar Centre.