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Four teams came from Manitoba looking to win the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
With the 18-team field now cut down to six for the final weekend, four teams were still in that hunt with one round-robin draw left late Thursday at Calgary’s WinSport.
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“That’s so cool! Go, Manitoba,” said an elated Kaitlyn Lawes, the skip of one of those playoff-bound teams from the Keystone Province. “It’s incredible. Teams in Manitoba right now are so tough. The fact that four teams are here and all four teams have a chance to make playoffs just shows the depth and the talent of our province.”
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Lawes laid claim to one berth in tense fashion Thursday afternoon, sliding by Krista McCarville and her ever-tough Northern Ontario squad in a 6-5 thriller.
“Absolutely tough,” said Lawes, when asked of the tall task she faced heading into that deciding draw. McCarville had skipped her team to the playoffs in her last seven Scotties.
“They’re such a strong team, so we knew we’d have to go down to last rock with them, if we could,” continued Lawes. “We knew that they weren’t going to go away.”
Neither were three other teams still in line for the last playoff spot — to join Alberta’s Selena Sturmay and Canada’s Kerri Einarson — from Pool A in the matinee session.
When the scores were all said and done from Draw 17, five teams were tied at 4-4 for that third playoff spot from Pool A.
But with Curling Canada electing to adopt international rules for a complex tiebreak formula — hence doing away with tiebreaker games for these Scotties — Lawes and her crew from Winnipeg ended up top of the five-way log-jam, sliding them in to the coveted playoff slot.
That formula, by the way, consists of a series of last-stone draw shots made prior to every game.
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“We knew with no tiebreakers, that was a huge priority for us,” said Lawes of the last-stone draw challenges. “We didn’t know how everything was going to fall, so I’m just so proud of the girls for hanging in with me.”
Lawes had been on the wrong end of that same formula, finishing dead-last in that draw-shot challenge, while with Jennifer Jones during the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.
“It’s just the way things with the World Curling Federation are going — the Olympics and the world championships, and we even saw it at the grand slams this year with no tiebreaker games,” Lawes said. “It seems to be the way things are going.
“I love tiebreakers,” continued the 35-year-old skip. “I wish it didn’t come down to a draw-shot challenge. The conditions can change so much, and depending on if you’re first practice or second practice because we’re doing two draws, the ice can change a lot.
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“I wish there were tiebreaker games. My heart goes out to all those teams who were on the other side of it.”
Those teams were B.C.’s Corryn Brown, Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges, Saskatchewan’s Skylar Ackerman and Northern Ontario, which came in with the best chance to advance, needing only to beat Lawes.
But that didn’t happen. A seventh-end count of three for the Fort Rouge Curling Club team — thanks in part to a terrific triple takeout executed by third Selena Njegovan — turned the game — and ultimately the playoff spot — in favour of Lawes.
“Beautiful shot — called and made,” Lawes said. “She threw it perfectly. It was exciting.
“I think she was little disappointed with her shot previous to that, so that just kind of erased that right away.”
With five teams still in the hunt for the third and final Pool A playoff spot coming into the matinee draw, there were 16 scenarios at hand.
“Honestly, I didn’t look at the scenarios,” added Lawes, whose in her second year with her current lineup consisting of Njegovan, second Jocelyn Peterman and lead Kristin MacCuish. “I just knew we had to win our game, and I knew we had to have good draws to the button.
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“Last year, we lost (7-6 to Nova Scotia’s Christina Black) in a tiebreaker. So now we get to be in our first (Scotties) playoffs together.”
So, too, do two other teams from Manitoba — at least.
Jennifer Jones and her St. Vital/Altona side are in, as are Einarson and the reigning four-time national queens from the Gimli Curling Club.
And Kate Cameron’s crew from Winnipeg’s Granite Curling Club had a chance to grab the final spot in Pool B — joining Jones and Ontario’s Rachel Homan — with a win over B.C.’s Clancy Grandy in Thursday’s late draw.
ALBERTA, WE’RE NUMBER ONE!
Selena Sturmay and her Alberta rink proved to be the best of Pool A competition with a top-rated 7-1 record after knocking off Brown on Thursday afternoon.
“It feels amazing to know that we’re going into the playoffs ranked No. 1,” said Sturmay, of Edmonton’s Saville Community Sports Centre.
“We’re very happy with that.”
But her reward is getting to play curling-legend Jones in Friday’s 1-v-2 qualifier at noon MT.
“I don’t think we look too much at the opponent,” said Sturmay, who is flanked by third Danielle Schmiemann, second Dezaray Hawes, lead Paige Papley and coach Ted Appelman at these Scotties. “I think at the end of the day, it’s just about playing against eight rocks. So we’ll just go out there and play our eight rocks.”
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Of course, this event has become a big retirement party for Jones, who says she is leaving team curling after these Scotties.
“For sure, I do think there will be (a heightened vibe in the building),” added Sturmay. “At the end of the day, though, I do think the pressure is on them knowing it’s Jennifer’s last (Scotties).”
It’s Homan vs. Einarson in the other 1-v-2 qualifier, also at noon MT.
The losers get a second chance to qualify for the Page playoff against the third-ranked pool teams later Friday (6 p.m. MT).
SCORES & MORE
The morning draw saw: Jones top Inglis 7-3; Homan triple up New Brunswick’s Mellisa Adams 9-3; Cameron edge Nova Scotia’s Heather Smith 5-2; and Northwest Territories’ Kerry Galusha defeat Yukon’s Bayly Scoffin 12-3 … The other afternoon games saw: Alberta (7-1) top Brown (4-4) 8-5; Canada (7-1) drop Newfoundland and Labrador’s Stacie Curtis (2-6) 12-4; and Quebec (4-4) score a 9-6 victory over Prince Edward Island’s Jane DiCarlo (0-8) … In the wrap-up of the round robin late Thursday, the other games were: Jones (6-1) v. NWT (2-5); Yukon (0-7) v. New Brunswick (2-5); and Homan (7-0) v. Nova Scotia (3-4).
tsaelhof@postmedia.com
X: @ToddSaelhofPM
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