‘Hostile’ because playing Saskatchewan’s Robyn Silvernagle during a national women’s championship in Moose Jaw is going to be a tough task for anyone, even if the crowd is as good-natured as local Scotties supporters have been throughout the week.
But Einarson and her rink of third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Briane Meilleur were up to the task and then some, roaring out to a 4-0 edge after two ends and leading 9-2 through four before holding on for a 10-6 victory.
The contest was a first-place showdown for Pool A, with Einarson now sitting at 5-1 and Silvernagle dropping to 4-2.
“It felt really good to come out with a good solid game, we put some pressure on them early and made some big ones when we needed them,” Einarson said.
Manitoba did most of their damage with a five-ender in the fourth, prompting Saskatchewan to switch out a pregnant Jessie Hunkin with fifth Stephanie Schmidt at the fifth-end break.
“We were just playing the scoreboard,” said Schmidt, who threw 94 per cent over her eight shots. “We want to be mindful of our players and rest them if we can, so if there was an opportunity to go in and let Jessie put her feet up we were going to take advantage of that.”
Having the chance to see action is always a question with curling alternates, so getting in a game was a nice bonus.
“It is nice,” Schmidt said. “Luckily I’ve been coming out and throwing at night in case the girls needed to put me in and it feels great out there, the crowd was amazing and we’re just looking to be on the other side of the scoreboard next time.”
Silvernagle wasn’t overly concerned with the loss, especially knowing their fate is in their hands when they get back on the winning track.
“We’ll just come out firing tomorrow night like we need too,” she said. “We stuck in this game and got a few steals but just couldn’t quite pull it off so we’ll just have to try and get better.”
Those steals came in the sixth and seventh ends after Silvernagle was held to one in the fifth and got Saskatchewan to within 9-6, but the two teams exchanged single points the next two frames before Silvernagle ran out of rocks in the final end.
“It’s not like we curled horrible, it was just a couple bad ends and we’ll get back at it tomorrow,” she said.
Saskatchewan will know precisely where they stand heading into their final game, as it’ll come against Northern Ontario – who alongside Alberta are in a three team tie with Canada and Alberta at 3-2 for third in the pool.
Manitoba, meanwhile, will take the ice in the same draw against Alberta.
Ontario’s Rachel Homan locked up her spot in the championship pool on Tuesday night with a commanding 9-5 win over Northwest Territories’ Kerry Galusha.
The victory means Homan, third Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney and lead Lisa Weagle can finish no worse than 5-2 and in a tie for second place in the Pool B, with the top four teams from each pool advancing to the championship pool.
“We did what we needed to today,” Homan said. “Yesterday we kind of pulled up short so today we wanted to make sure we got these two wins and it worked out like we hoped.”
Homan built a 5-1 lead through four ends against Galusha, fourth Jo-Ann Rizzo, third Sarah Koltun and lead Shona Barbour, with deuces in the sixth and seventh making it 9-3 before Galusha picked up two in eight and decided to call it a night.
With her spot in the next pool locked up, Homan will look to maintain focus going forward.
“I think you have to keep the intensity up, we’re taking every game really seriously and a better record is good for the championship round, you don’t want to lose any games because they all matter.” she said.
Ontario will face winless Yukon in their final prelim draw on Wednesday afternoon, while Northwest Territories will close out their Scotties against P.E.I.
“Entertaining” has been one of the first things Wild Card’s Jennifer Jones has said upon entering media scrums the last three nights, and Tuesday was no exception.
Jones and her Winnipeg-based team of third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jocelyn Peterman and lead Dawn McEwen found themselves in yet another extra end contest in Draw 11, this time against Nova Scotia’s Marie-Anne Arsenault. And once again, she came away with the win, scoring two in 11 to take a 9-7 victory,
“Entertaining, that’s what I’ve been saying, it’s entertaining for the fans,” Jones said with laugh. “It’s a bit of an adrenaline rush and maybe hard to sleep at night, but that’s what makes it fun.”
It appeared as if Jones was going to escape with a regulation win for once against Arsenault, third Christina Black, second Jenn Bater and lead Emma Logan after taking three in the ninth for a 7-5 lead.
But a tough miss on a take-out attempt by Lawes that instead doubled out two of her own opened a door for Arsenault, and she would make no mistake with her last draw to land her deuce.
“They played great, we missed a couple chances for deuces early, and out there you can’t miss those extra points,” Jones said. “It wasn’t as sharp as we were this afternoon but all in all we’re pretty happy with where we’re at.”
Jones improved to 5-1 and is tied with Homan atop Pool B, as such having also locked up a spot in the championship round.
They’ll face Newfoundland’s Erica Curtis (1-5) in the afternoon draw Wednesday, while Nova Scotia (3-3) will hope for a win over B.C. in the same draw and some help in their quest for the top four.
A day ago, New Brunswick’s Andrea Crawford could have been forgiven for feeling a touch disheartened with her 1-3 record and diminished playoff hopes.
Oh, what a difference a day makes.
A record-setting showing in the afternoon draw – Crawford, third Jennifer Armstrong, second Jill Babin and lead Katie Forward scored the Scotties first-ever seven-ender against Manitoba – was followed with a commanding 11-6 win over Quebec in the evening on Tuesday.
All of a sudden Crawford is 3-3 in Pool A and with some help Wednesday could find herself still playing on Thursday.
“We were just really determined today to have good game in our first game, then after that we just settled ourselves down and wanted to come out tonight and do the same thing,” Crawford said. “So we were really determined and focussed and really happy to have a 2-0 day.”
Crawford headed into the fifth-end break with a 5-2 lead over Noemie Verreault, third Alanna Routledge, second Marie-Pier Cote and lead Jill Routledge, but Quebec would get all of that back then some when Verreault pulled off one of the shots of the day, knocking a Crawford counter out of a crowded house to take four and draw a huge roar from the crowd.
Crawford got right back on track, though, with a deuce in the seventh, three in eight and another steal in nine bringing things to an end.
New Brunswick will now face Canada in their final Pool A game in the evening draw and as a result will know exactly where they stand heading into the contest.
“Tomorrow night is a must win against Team Canada, but it’s great to have that game in this pool mean something to us,” Crawford said. “We’re going to come out with the same mindset tomorrow and hopefully we can have the same performance.”
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