It was one heck of a showing for a first-time rink, but Moose Jaw’s Skylar Ackerman has seen her run at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts come to an end.
Ackerman and her Saskatoon Nutana foursome of third Ashley Thevenot, second Taylor Stremick and lead Kaylin Skinner dropped a 13-4 decision to B.C.’s Corryn Brown in her final round-robin game on Wednesday night, finishing with a 4-4 record.
With Brown sitting at 4-3 heading into her final preliminary round game and in third place, Ackerman can finish no higher than fourth thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker and as a result will miss the playoffs by a single win.
As the score would indicate, it was a tough night for Ackerman and crew. A three-ender in the second and steal of two in the third made it a 5-1 game early, and after Ackerman scored one in the fourth, Brown put up another three-ender the next frame to lead 8-2. Saskatchewan got their first deuce in the sixth, but Brown promptly got that back the next end and then finished things off with a steal of three in the eighth.
Brown is one of a handful of rinks in action at this Scotties who also played at the 2020 championship in Moose Jaw.
Ackerman got off to a fantastic start in her first Scotties appearance, winning her first three games and sitting atop Pool A after opening weekend. Three losses over the next two days brought Team Sask back to 3-3, though, with a win over Newfoundland on Wednesday morning giving Ackerman and crew hope heading into their final draw.
Alberta’s Selena Sturmay (6-1) and Team Canada’s Kerri Einarson (6-1) will finish one-two in Pool A, and either Brown (4-3) or Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville (4-3) will take third place.
Brown takes on Sturmay in her final round robin game Thursday afternoon, McCarville faces Manitoba’s Kaitlyn Lawes (3-4) to close out their round robin. A win and a loss for either will send the winning team into the playoffs, with Brown advancing if both teams win or lose thanks to her 9-5 win over McCarville in their preliminary round meeting..
The playoffs begin Friday afternoon and continue through to Sunday, with the Scotties Tournament of Hearts final at 7 p.m. on TSN.
You can check out all the scores from the week on www.curling.ca.
