Eight Ends: Homan, Englot ahead of the pack at Tournament of Hearts
Business is picking up at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in St. Catharines, Ont.
It’s roughly the midway mark of the round-robin portion at the Canadian women’s curling championship with Ontario’s Rachel Homan and Manitoba’s Michelle Englot emerging as they early front-runners with 5-0 records.
Chelsea Carey, back to defend the title in the Team Canada auto-berth spot, is right behind at 4-1 followed by a logjam of 3-2 teams featuring Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville, Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink, Kerry Galusha of N.W.T. and Quebec’s Eve Belisle.
There’s plenty more curling to come with the deck sure to shuffle as the week continues. Only the top four teams advance to the Page playoffs with the winner representing Canada next month at the world women’s curling championship in China.
1st End: Homan, Englot on collision course for epic showdown
Homan and Englot’s records are perfect even if it hasn’t been a perfect road.
Homan needed an extra end to get by Carey 7-5 in the opening draw and earned a dicey 6-4 victory over Kleibrink. The Ottawa-based team was dominant in their other three wins breezing past Marla Mallett of B.C., Robyn MacPhee of P.E.I., and Mary Mattatall of Nova Scotia with a combined points for/points against total of 26-9 over that trio.
Englot’s undefeated run looked to be in jeopardy Monday night against McCarville. Trailing 6-2 at the break, Englot rallied back with a deuce in six followed by back-to-back single steals to tie it. McCarville couldn’t execute a hit and stick for two in the ninth, rolling out for just one point, and failed to grab first and second shot rock with her last in the 10th. Englot didn’t even need to throw the final stone of the game counting two for the 8-7 win.
Homan and Englot finish round-robin play facing off against each other Thursday evening. It could serve as a preview of the following night’s Page 1-2 playoff if both teams maintain their current pace.
2nd End: Galusha gets through pre-qualifier
Kerry Galusha of the Northwest Territories can say good riddance to the pre-qualifier.
Galusha emerged from the four-team round against New Brunswick, Nunavut and the Yukon for the final spot in the main draw. As mentioned above, N.W.T. is hanging tough with a 3-2 record.
The pre-qualifier has been scrapped for future events and next year all provinces and territories — along with Northern Ontario, Team Canada and a 16th team to be determined — will compete in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
3rd End: Shuster, Sinclair win at U.S. nationals
John Shuster and Jamie Sinclair picked up the hardware at the U.S. curling championships Saturday in Everett, Wash.
Shuster edged Todd Birr 8-7 in the men’s final with a clutch draw to the four-foot circle on his final shot of the 10th end. Team Shuster looks for another podium appearance at the worlds after taking bronze last year.
Meanwhile, Sinclair captured her first national title with a 6-4 victory over Nina Roth in the women’s final. Although Roth lost, she ultimately finished with more points over the course of the season and will represent the U.S. at the worlds.
Sinclair and Shuster also earned berths to the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup, April 25-30 in Calgary.
4th End: Scottish curling championships heating up
The Scottish curling championships are underway in Perth with Kyle Smith, Grant Hardie and defending champ Tom Brewster locked in a three-way tie for first place with 4-1 records. Bruce Mouat and David Murdoch are right behind at 3-2 with four round-robin draws to go.
Eve Muirhead is cruising along on the women’s side at a 3-0 record and halfway through the round-robin.
The finals are set for Saturday.
5th End: Hasselborg heading to worlds
Anna Hasselborg is off to her first world women’s curling championship.
Hasselborg earned the right to represent Sweden based on the team’s five best results so far this season, including a trio of semifinal finishes in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling series.
Elsewhere, Anna Sidorova will play for Russia after defeating European champion Victoria Moiseeva in a best-of series.
Alina Paetz and Peter de Cruz were victorious at the Swiss curling championships Saturday. Paetz held off reigning world champ Binia Feltscher 7-6 in the women’s final while de Cruz slipped past Felix Attinger 8-6 in the men’s final thanks to a three-ender in the 10th end.
The world women’s curling championship runs March 18-26 in Beijing, China, with the men’s worlds taking place April 1-9 in Edmonton.
6th End: World juniors update
Scotland’s Sophie Jackson and Sweden’s Isabella Wranå are atop of the women’s leaderboard at the world junior curling championships in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Jackson and Wranå are tied for first place with 6-1 records and just two games to go in the round-robin portion. Canada’s Kristen Streifel sits in third at 5-2 and aiming to move onto the Page playoffs. Streifel plays Jackson and American Annmarie Dubberstein in her remaining round-robin games.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Ki Jeong Lee is undefeated so far on home ice with a 6-0 record on the junior men’s side.
Canada’s Tyler Tardi is tied for second at 5-2 with American Andrew Stopera. Tardi takes on Turkey’s Ugurcan Karagoz and Scotland’s Cameron Bryce to wrap up the round-robin.
7th End: Special deal for Elite 10 international streaming
The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season resumes in less than a month for the Princess Auto Elite 10, running March 16-19 at the Civic Centre in Port Hawkesbury, N.S.
International fans can subscribe to the online streaming package right now for a special early bird price by clicking here. Don’t delay as this offer expires Feb. 28.
That wraps up this week’s rundown of the curling world, so we’re “shaking hands” an end early.