By Jonathan Brazeau
NISKU, Alta. — Team Einarson second Shannon Birchard said her knee is feeling pretty good as business is picking up in the curling season.
Birchard missed almost all of last year due to the injury. Team Einarson relied on a rotation of spares through the busy fall schedule until Karlee Burgess joined full-time in January.
With Birchard back in the fold, Burgess has moved over to lead alongside skip Kerri Einarson and third Val Sweeting.
"Obviously, there’s post-surgical soreness and that kind of thing, but it honestly feels pretty good," Birchard said Thursday following Team Einarson's 8-3 win against Team Skrlik. "I just have to make sure I warm up really good, but other than that, I feel great."
Birchard said the victory over Team Skrlik was huge as they're set to meet again next month in the Canadian Olympic curling trials to decide who will wear the maple leaf at the Winter Games in Milan-Cortina.
"Every time we're out there on the ice, we want to be building towards that week," Birchard said. "Just making sure that we’re playing our best and not stumbling along the way is big.
"We want to make sure that we’re learning from misses and capitalizing when we can."
The Gimli, Man., club did just that Thursday. Although Einarson didn't start with the hammer, her team poured on the pressure early to generate steals.
Kayla Skrlik's draw shot chipped and rolled to give up two in the first, and the Calgary skip was in damage control mode again in the second, as Einarson sat another couple of counters. With the draw not looking like an easy route, Skrlik opted for a dangerous double raise that pushed aside one and limited the steal to a single to fall behind 3-0.
"One of our biggest goals is to just have a really strong start," Birchard said. "... The steal is huge. It just starts the game off on the right foot and just gives us a bunch of energy going forward into the rest of the game."
Skrlik scored a single in the third, and Einarson remained in charge, adding two more points in the fourth to extend the lead to 5-1 at the break.
Although Skrlik narrowed the gap with a deuce in five, Einarson hit for three more points and the ball game in six.
Team Einarson improved to a 2-1 record to get back on track in the event, while Team Skrlik has been eliminated from playoff contention at 0-3 with one day remaining in the preliminary round.
"It's awesome," Birchard said. "We came out firing and that steal in the first end was huge and just kind of switched the momentum after not getting the hammer.
"Everybody is feeling really good out there. The ice is great and we have a good handle on the speed."
LAWES SCORES SHOOTOUT VICTORY
Good, our first shootout of the day — and the first shootout of the week, actually.
Canada's Team Lawes and Japan's Team Yoshimura went into the bonus round in Draw 11 all tied up after eight ends. With no extras throughout the entire event, the game was decided in a draw-to-the-button shootout.
Kaitlyn Lawes went first with a sharp draw for a piece of the button. That put all the pressure on counterpart Sayaka Yoshimura, whose stone rolled too far.
"We hadn’t been in that position yet to have to do the draw to the button," Lawes said. "That was a great team shot, very well swept, and nerve-racking watching the next shot come down because you have no control over what’s going to happen. I’m proud of the team’s effort."
Although still called Team Lawes, third Selena Njegovan is calling the shots with Lawes handling the vice skip role and picking up extra sweeping duties.
"I feel like we’ve got a real good flow going, really confident with the game that Selina’s calling," said Lawes, whose team is in contention with two wins and five points. "It’s a lot of fun being back sweeping with the girls. We’re just really enjoying the process."
HASSELBORG MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME IN NISKU
Team Hasselborg didn't make the trip to the Silent Ice Center last season when the venue hosted the Grand Slam of Curling's Canadian Open.
The Swedish squad was busy preparing for the European Curling Championships and missed out on the event.
Hasselborg has made up for lost time at the building, jumping out to a 3-0 start this week.
"We've only heard a lot of good things about it, and finally being here, it's a great facility," Team Hasselborg second Agnes Knochenhauer said. "You really feel the atmosphere too of the people here."
Team Hasselborg clinched a playoff berth with a 6-4 win over Japan's Team Fujisawa in Draw 12.
"It feels amazing," Knochenhauer said. "It was a really good game. We started off a little bit slow, but then we picked it up and we made a really good second half of the game."
Also earning early playoff spots at 3-0 on Thursday: Switzerland's Team Tirinzoni and Italy's Team Constantini in the women's division, Canada's Team Dunstone and Team Epping plus Scotland's Team Mouat on the men's side.
HOMAN HOLDS ON AGAINST WRANÅ
Canada's Team Homan bounced back into the win column in Draw 12 after a frantic 6-5 victory over Sweden's Team Wranå.
Homan gave up a steal of one in the second and two in the fifth to fall behind 4-2 before mounting the comeback.
After Homan tied it up with a deuce in six, Wranå attempted a double in seven that somehow sailed through the house untouched to hand a 6-4 lead to the two-time reigning Canadian champion.
Wranå still had the hammer coming home, but couldn't score more than a single point.
"It was a really close game," Team Homan third Tracy Fleury said. "We just tried to learn the ice, learn from our mistakes and just kept battling.
"It was just one of those games. They made a lot of good shots and put some pressure on in some ends, for sure."
Team Homan improved to a 2-1 record with one preliminary round game to go against Team Yoshimura.
"All of our games have been really close, tight battles," Fleury said. "It's good to feel that pressure and have to make the shots when they count."
Team Wranå (1-2) takes on Team Lawes and needs a win to stay in contention.
SHOT OF THE DAY
With the banana fans in the stands, it's only fitting that someone pulled off a split, although this one came from the side of the house.
Lawes bumped her rock just on the edge of the rings, and her shooter spilled in as well, to score two points in the third end to take a 3-2 lead against Yoshimura.
THURSDAY'S RESULTS
Watch every game live online at rockchannel.com.
Draw 9
• Carruthers 8, Hösli 4
• Waddell 8, Muskatewitz 5
• X. Schwaller 5, Gim 4
• Black 7, Ha 5
Draw 10
• McEwen 7, Kleiter 4
• Mouat 9, Dropkin 4
• Constantini 7, Kim 4
• Tirinzoni 7, Tabata 3
Draw 11
• Dunstone 6, Edin 3
• Retornaz 5, Whyte 3
• Lawes 8, Yoshimura 7 (shootout)
• Einarson 8, Skrlik 3
Draw 12
• Y. Schwaller 7, Gushue 4
• Epping 6, Koe 5
• Homan 6, Wranå 5
• Hasselborg 6, Fujisawa 4
UP NEXT
Round-robin play wraps up Friday, beginning with Draw 13 at 8:30 a.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET).
Tickets are available at the box office and online at GSOCtickets.com.
Broadcast coverage in Canada on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ resumes with Draw 14 at 2 p.m. ET / Noon MT.
