TEAM CANADA -Kerri Einarson, Val Sweeting, Shannon Bichard, Brianne Harris, Krysten Karwacki, Coach Reid Carruthers defeated Jennifer Jones’ Team Manitoba in the 2023 Scotties final. It was a remarkable fourth win in a row for the Einarson foursome.
(Friday, February 17) FOUR TEAMS MANITOBA IN NATIONAL SCOTTIES Good luck to all four of the Manitoba teams playing this week in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Play began Friday evening with Kerri Einarson’s Team Canada winning 11-8 over Quebec and Kaitlyn Lawes’ Wild Card team coming from behind to beat Alberta 8-5. Lawes plays Nova Scotia and Einarson takes on British Columbia on the last draw Saturday.
Jennifer Jones’ Team Manitoba plays Northern Ontario and Meghan Walter’s Wild Card Manitoba team plays the the Alberta Wild Cards (Casey Scheidegger) on the afternoon draw.
The first Manitoba meeting is between Jones & Walter on the Sunday morning draw. Einarson and Lawes face off on Sunday afternoon.
Team Canada: Einarson (Photo Curling Canada/Andrew Klaver)Team Manitoba: Jones (Photo Curling Canada/Andrew Klaver)Team Wild Card: Lawes (Photo Curling Canada/Andrew Klaver)Team Wild Card: Walter (Photo Curling Canada/Andrew Klaver)
Switzerland’s Silvana Tironzoni team defeated Korea’s Eun-Jung Kim team 7-6 in the gold medal final game of the Women’s World Championships in Prince George, BC. It was the third consecutive championship for the Tironzoni team and the seventh for Switzerland in the past ten years.
Team Switzerland swept through the round-robin undefeated and completed a perfect week in Prince George with a semi-final win over Sweden before beating Korea in the final.
Canada’s Kerri Einarson foursome earned a bronze medal with a victory over Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg. It was the first Canadian medal since Jennifer Jones and her team won the gold medal in 2018 in North Bay. The medal is a first world medal for Einarson, Val Sweeting and Brianne Meilleur and a second one for Shannon Birchard who was the Jones team alternate in 2018.
Team Canada: Kerri Einarson, Shannon Birchard, Val Sweeting, Brianne Meilleur (Curling Canada Photo- Michael Burns)
Team Canada finished the round robin with three losses, including a round robin loss (8-7 extra end) to Korea which put them third in the standings. They defeated Denmark 9-8 in the quarter-final before losing their semi-final rematch with Korea.
The medal winning trend since 2000 is interesting. While Switzerland has won those seven gold medals in ten years, they missed the medals in the other three years of the past ten. In the prior 12 years, Switzerland won only three medals, none of them gold.
In the past ten years, Canada has tied with Switzerland with a total of seven medals, but only two of them were gold. In the 22 years since 2000, Canada and Switzerland have both won seven gold medals. Canada ranks #1 in total medals with 16 while Sweden is #2 with 11 and Switzerland is #3 with ten.
Despite Canada having won a medal in about 75% of the time, it is the gold medal count that most curling fans are interested in and two in the past ten years is below standard. With each passing year, the pressure mounts on the Canadian team, whoever represents this country at the Worlds.
It will be interesting to see if one of the new line-ups announced for next year will be going to the worlds to face that pressure OR if an intact Team Einarson can win a fourth consecutive Scotties and a return trip to the Worlds. This year’s experience will no doubt be an asset if that happens.
(Curling Canada Release) Two years later than they had hoped, Kerri Einarson and her Canadian championship team from Gimli, Man., will wear the Maple Leaf in Prince George, B.C.
Einarson, vice-skip Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard, lead Briane Meilleur, alternate Krysten Karwacki, team coach Reid Carruthers and national coach Elaine Dagg-Jackson will be the home team when the 2022 BKT Tires & OK Tire World Women’s Curling Championship, presented by Nature’s Bounty, gets underway on Saturday at the CN Centre.
Skip Kerri Einarson, vice-skip Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard, lead Briane Meilleur, (back) team coach Reid Carruthers & alternate Krysten Karwacki (Curling Canada Photo/Andrew Klaver)
Team Canada will be in action twice on opening day in Prince George — at 2 p.m. (all times Pacific) against Italy, skipped by Olympic mixed doubles gold-medallist Stefania Constantini, and at 7 p.m. against Norway’s Kristin Skaslien.
Two years ago, Team Einarson was coming off its first victory at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and arrived in Prince George ready to represent Canada for the first time, only to see those ambitions shattered as the 2020 World Women’s Championship was cancelled just 48 hours before it was to begin as the COVID-19 pandemic was in its early stages.
This year, Team Einarson heads to Prince George having won a third successive Scotties title. Last year in the bubble in Calgary, Team Einarson made the playoffs at the 2021 LGT World Women’s Championship and finished in a tie for fifth place.
Thirteen teams will be competing in Prince George, including the reigning world champions from Switzerland skipped by Silvana Tirinzoni, as well as the perennial Swedish powerhouse team skipped by Anna Hasselborg. Those teams matched up in the bronze-medal game at the Winter Olympics last month in Beijing, with the Swedes prevailing 9-7 to finish on the podium.
Denmark (skipped by Madeleine Dupont) and South Korea (skipped by EunJung Kim) also competed at the Winter Olympics and will have the same lineups in Prince George.
At the other end of the experience spectrum, Turkey, skipped by Dilsat Yildiz, will make its debut at the World Women’s Championship.
Also competing at the 2022 BKT Tires & OK Tire World Women’s Championship will be the Czech Republic’s Alžběta Baudyšová, Germany’s Daniela Jentsch, Japan’s Ikue Kitazawa, Scotland’s Rebecca Morrison and Cory Christensen of the United States.
Team Canada will be seeking its first podium finish since Team Jennifer Jones claimed the gold medal with a perfect 14-0 record in 2018 at North Bay, Ont.
It’s the 17th time that Canada has hosted the World Women’s Championship since it began in 1979 in Perth, Scotland, and the first time it’s happened in Prince George.
Canada has won a leading 17 gold medals at the World Women’s since 1979, followed by Switzerland and Sweden with eight apiece. Switzerland has win six of the past nine world women’s championships.
Round-robin play will run through to Friday, March 25, with the top six teams making the playoffs; no tiebreakers will be played, so ties for playoff spots will be broken based on head-to-head results, and if that doesn’t resolve the tie, then the pre-game Last-Shot Draw distances will be used to break ties.
The top two teams from round-robin play will be seeded directly into the semifinals on March 26 at 7 p.m., while third will play sixth and fourth will play fifth in the qualifying-round games on March 26 at 1 p.m.
The winners of the qualifying-round games will advance to the semifinals. The semifinal winners will play for gold on March 27 at 4 p.m., with the semifinal losers battling for bronze on March 27 at 11 a.m.
TSN/RDS2, the official broadcast partners of Curling Canada’s Season of Champions, will provide live coverage of Canada’s round-robin games, in addition to all playoff games. CLICK HERE for their complete broadcast schedule.
Ticket information, the list of teams, schedule information and live scoring can be found on the event website, www.curling.ca/2022worldwomen
(Sunday, 10PM, February 6) Kerri Einarson, Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Brianne Meilleur won a pair of playoff games Sunday in Thunder Bay to win the Scotties Tournament of Heart. It is the third consecutive national championship for the Einarson team from Gimli – a record held by Jennifer Jones and Vera Pezer and surpassed only by Colleen Jones and her four consecutive.
Three-time Scotties champions (l-r) Kerri Einarson, Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard, Briane Meilleur – Photo: Curling Canada/Andrew Kalver
Team Canada enjoyed mid-game break leads in both games; 4-2 over Andrea Crawford (New Brunswick) in the semi-final and 6-2 over Krista McCarville (Northern Ontario) in the final.
They controlled the semi-final through the second half in an 8-4 victory. The final was different, however. The hometown team fought back to trail 7-6 playing the 8th end and forced Einarson to a single on the ninth. Trailing 8-6, McCarville missed her ‘slim chance’ runback attempt with her last rock to give Team Canada another steal and the 9-6 ‘three-peat’ win.
The entire Team Canada line-up earned first all-start team honours at the championship. Selena Njegovan, who came into the event as a third but skipped the first seven Team Fleury games, was the second all-star team skip!
(Saturday, 10PM, February 5) MCCARVILLE IN FINAL; EINARSON-CRAWFORD SEMI-FINAL: Kerri Einarson’s Team Canada eliminated Manitoba-Wild Card Tracy Fleury and Krista McCarville (Northern Ontario) advanced to the final with a win over Andrea Crawford (New Brunswick) – both with come-back wins Saturday.
Team Einarson: Photo-Curling Canada/Andrew Klaver
In the afternoon Page 3-4 game, Einarson trailed 5-4 at the fifth end break but took control with a four on the sixth end, then stole two on the seventh to lead 10-5 in an 11-6 win over Team Fleury.
McCarville trailed Crawford 7-3 after seven ends but scored three on the eighth and two more coming home to force an extra end. The home town team stole one on the extra to advance to the Sunday 6PM (CST) final game.
Crawford drops to the semi-final against Einarson. That game goes at 11AM (CST).
(Friday, 10PM, February 4) BAD DAY FRIDAY FOR MANTIOBA’S SCOTTIES TEAMS: Kerri Einarson’s Team Canada (Gimli) and Tracy Fleury’s Manitoba Wild Card Team (East St. Paul) will meet Saturday in a Page Playoff game in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay – but not the game most would have predicted.
Team Zacharias: Photo-Curling Canada/Andrew Klaver
Both had earned playoff round byes and played Friday evening with a chance to advance to the top side of the Page Playoff draw – the game with two chances to reach the Sunday final.
Neither was able to win their game. Fleury and her team were blasted 8-3 by Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville team. Einarson fell behind 4–0 early and fought back to tie but had trouble scoring again as they trailed Andrea Crawford’s New Brunswick foursome 7-4 playing the ninth. They scored two on end nine and forced Crawford to a last rock draw coming home but saw her hit the four foot for victory.
Crawford and McCarville will meet in the Page Playoff 1-2 game while Fleury and Einarson will meet in the Page 3-4 elimination game.
Earlier in the day, Mackenzie Zacharias’ Team Manitoba (Altona) had lost their tiebreaker 8-6 to Kerry Galusha (NWT). Galusha then lost by the same score to McCarville. Crawford advanced to her game with Einarson by defeating Christa Black (NS) 11-8 in the first playoff game.
The Einarson-Fleury game is set for 1PM (CST) Saturday while the McCarville-Crawford game goes at 6PM
(Thursday, 10PM, February 3) EINARSON UNDEFEATED, ZACHARIAS IN TIEBREAKER: Mackenzie Zacharias did what they had to do to survive Thursday. They won one of their two games, and 10-7 win over Alberta, and ended with a 5W-3L record. The last game, however, was the one that got away. They scored a five on Kerri Einarson and Team Canada. However, they could not hold the lead – giving up five points over the next three ends and five more over ends 7 to 10. The final 10-7 Einarson win gave Team Canada a perfect 8W-0L record.
Zacharias finished with a 5W-3L record, tied with Christina Black (Nova Scotia) and Kerry Galusha (Northwest Territories). Nova Scotia earns second place thanks to round robin wins over both Manitoba and Northwest Territories. Zacharias and Galusha will meet in a tiebreaker on Friday morning.
EINARSON VS Manitoba: Win 10-7 EINARSON VS NWT: Win 8-5 EINARSON VS Yukon: WIN 6-4 EINARSON VS BC: WIN 10-5 EINARSON VS Alberta: WIN 10-5 EINARSON VS Quebec: WIN 8-5 EINARSON VS Nova Scotia: WIN 6-3 EINARSON VS Ontario: WIN 12-5
ZACHARIAS VS Canada: LOSS 10-7 ZACHARIAS VS Alberta: WIN 10-7 ZACHARIAS VS Quebec: WIN 4-3 ZACHARIAS VS Nova Scotia: LOSS 7-6 ZACHARIAS VS NWT: LOSS 8-6 ZACHARIAS VS Ontario: WIN 8-7 ZACHARIAS VS Yukon: WIN 12-3 ZACHARIAS VS British Columbia: WIN 6-5
FINAL ROUND-ROBIN STANDINGS: 8-0: Team Canada (Einarson) 5-3: Team Nova Scotia (Black) 5-3: Team Northwest Territories (Galusha) 5-3: Team Manitoba (Zacharias) 4-4: Ontario (Duncan) 3-5: Team Alberta (Walker) 3-5: Team Quebec (St-Georges) 3-5 British Columbia (Arsenault) 0-8: Yukon (Birnie)
(Thursday, 6PM, February 3) ABSOLUTELY FLEURY SHOULD PLAY – AND SHE DID, VERY WELL: There was a social media debate Thursday. Tracy Fleury was out of Covid protocol and ready to play. But should she – they asked. Or should she let Selena Njegovan continue to throw last – they asked.
She played and threw last – and even if they had lost, that was absolutely the right decision. First, the game was not critical as they had already confirmed a playoff berth. Obviously the win was important but they could play on if they lost. And second, it was logical to give Tracy the full chance to test herself. If there were unidentified implications of the several days off – better to learn them today so an informed decision could be made for tomorrow’s game.
So she played – and shot 85%, outscoring Krista McCarville by a fully 20 percentage points.
They’ll go into the Friday playoff round as the top team in the pool so they earn a bye to the 6PM draw, awaiting the winner between McCarville (Northern Ontario) and Christina Black (Nova Scotia).
Team Fleury finished with a 7W-1L record while Andrea a (New Brunswick) finished 6W-2L and McCarville finished third in the group with a 5W-3L record.
FLEURY VS Northern Ontario: WIN 8-6 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Nunavut: WIN 8-2 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Nfld-Labrador: WIN 8-3 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Wild Card-Saskatchewan: WIN 9-4 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Wild Card-Ontario: WIN 11-9 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Prince Edward Island: WIN 9-1 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Saskatchewan: WIN 9-7 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS New Brunswick: LOSS 6-5
FINAL ROUND-ROBIN STANDINGS: 7-1: Wild Card-Manitoba (Fleury/Njegovan) 6-2: Team New Brunswick (Crawford) 5-3: Northern Ontario (McCarville) 4-3: Saskatchewan (Barker) 4-4: Wild Card-Ontario (Homan/Miskew) 4-4: Wild Card – Saskatchewan (Carey) 4-4: Prince Edward Island (Birt) 2-6: Newfoundland-Labrador (Hill) 0-8: Nunavut (MacPhail)
(Wednesday 9PM, February 2) EINARSON, FLEURY WILL ADVANCE, ZACHARIAS MUST WIN THURSDAY: Kerri Einarson’s Team Canada and the Selena Njegovan skipped Tracy Fleury Team Wild Card have, with games to play Thursday, already assured themselves of advancing to the next round at the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay. Mackenzie Zacharias and Team Manitoba won their only game Wednesday to stay firmly in the chase for one of the three spots to advance from their pool.
Team Fleury/Njegovan: Photo Curling Canada/Andrew Klaver
The Manitoba Wild Card team of Tracy Fleury won a pair of games on Wednesday to improve to 6W-1L. That record assures them of advancing to the next round with a game to play on the afternoon draw Thursday against Northern Ontario. New Brunswick’s Andrea Crawford is also assured of advancing, also with a 6W-1L record. Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville is at 5W-2L and can grab the third ‘next round’ berth with a win over Team Fleury. If Fleury/Njegovan win, then Saskatchewan can also improve to 5W-2L by beating the Emma Miskew-skipped Ontario Wild Card team.
FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Nunavut: WIN 8-2 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Nfld-Labrador: WIN 8-3 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Wild Card-Saskatchewan: WIN 9-4 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Wild Card-Ontario: WIN 11-9 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Prince Edward Island: WIN 9-1 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Saskatchewan: WIN 9-7 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS New Brunswick: LOSS 6-5
STANDINGS AFTER WEDNESDAY: 6-1: Team New Brunswick (Crawford) 6-1: Wild Card-Manitoba (Fleury/Njegovan) 5-2: Northern Ontario (McCarville) 4-3: Saskatchewan (Barker) 3-4: Wild Card-Ontario (Homan/Miskew) 3-4: Wild Card – Saskatchewan (Carey) 3-4: Prince Edward Island (Birt) 2-5: Newfoundland-Labrador (Hill) 0-8: Nunavut (MacPhail)
Team Canada is still perfect at 7W-0L following an 8-5 win over Northwest Territories (Kerry Galusha) in their only game of the day Wednesday. She ends the round robin, assured of advancing, with one game Thursday. That game will be on the evening draw – against Mackenzie Zacharias and Team Manitoba.
A win Wednesday, 4-3 in an extra end over Quebec, kept Team Manitoba’s hopes very much alive. However, Zacharias faces a very tough day Thursday. On the early draw, they play Alberta’s Laura Walker team and then finish the preliminary round with the game against Team Einarson. With a record of 4W-2L, Zacharias and her Altona team need at least one win, and may need to win both, to have advance.
EINARSON VS NWT: Win 8-5 EINARSON VS Yukon: WIN 6-4 EINARSON VS BC: WIN 10-5 EINARSON VS Alberta: WIN 10-5 EINARSON VS Quebec: WIN 8-5 EINARSON VS Nova Scotia: WIN 6-3 EINARSON VS Ontario: WIN 12-5
ZACHARIAS VS Quebec: WIN 4-3 ZACHARIAS VS Nova Scotia: LOSS 7-6 ZACHARIAS VS NWT: LOSS 8-6 ZACHARIAS VS Ontario: WIN 8-7 ZACHARIAS VS Yukon: WIN 12-3 ZACHARIAS VS British Columbia: WIN 6-5
STANDINGS AFTER WEDNESDAY: 7-0: Team Canada (Einarson) 4-2: Team Northwest Territories (Galusha) 4-2: Team Manitoba (Zacharias) 4-2: Team Nova Scotia (Black) 3-3: Team Alberta (Walker) 3-4: Ontario (Duncan) 2-4: Team Quebec (St-Georges) 1-5 British Columbia (Arsenault) 0-6: Yukon (Birnie)
(Tuesday 10PM, February 1)TOUGH TUESDAY FOR ZACHARIAS; EINARSON STILL PERFECT Mackenzie Zacharias and her Team Manitoba had a tough day Tuesday at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. A pair of losses has dropped their record to 3W-2L. In both games, Team Zacharias mounted strong comebacks but were unable to overcome early deficits. On the morning draw, they trailed Kerry Galusha (NWT) by 4 after two ends and 7-2 after six but fought back to trail 8-6 loss coming home. On the evening draw Christina Black (NS), they again trailed by 4 after two ends and 6-2 after six but fought back to trail 7-5 coming home.
Kerri Einarson and her Team Canada won a pair of games Tuesday to improve their perfect record to 6W-0L with two games to play. On the morning draw, a four on the third end was the base for a 10-5 win over Mary Anne Arsenault (BC) They opened the evening draw against Hailey Birnie (Yukon) with a 4 ender and went on to a 6-4 victory.
EINARSON VS Yukon: WIN 6-4 EINARSON VS BC: WIN 10-5 EINARSON VS Alberta: WIN 10-5 EINARSON VS Quebec: WIN 8-5 EINARSON VS Nova Scotia: WIN 6-3 EINARSON VS Ontario: WIN 12-5
ZACHARIAS VS Nova Scotia: LOSS 7-6 ZACHARIAS VS NWT: LOSS 8-6 ZACHARIAS VS Ontario: WIN 8-7 ZACHARIAS VS Yukon: WIN 12-3 ZACHARIAS VS British Columbia: WIN 6-5
STANDINGS AFTER TUESDAY:
6-0: Team Canada (Einarson) 4-1: Team Northwest Territories (Galusha) 3-2: Team Manitoba (Zacharias) 3-2: Team Nova Scotia (Black) 3-2: Team Alberta (Walker) 2-3: Team Quebec (St-Georges) 2-4: Ontario (Duncan) 1-5 British Columbia (Arsenault) 0-5: Yukon (Birnie)
Meanwhile, Selena Njegovan continues to skip Team Fleury and continues to lead them to victory. Tuesday’s one game was against the Saskatchewan Wild Card entry skipped by Chelsea Carey. They improved to a 4W-1L record with a 9-4 win, although the somewhat unflattering score for Carey included a stolen three coming home when Carey had to ‘go for it’ but simply had no shot with her final stone of the game. Team Fleury plays two games Wednesday, against Nfld-Labrador and Nunavut.
FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Wild Card-Saskatchewan: WIN 9-4 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Wild Card-Ontario: WIN 11-9 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Prince Edward Island: WIN 9-1 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Saskatchewan: WIN 9-7 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS New Brunswick: LOSS 6-5
STANDINGS AFTER TUESDAY:
5-0: Team New Brunswick (Crawford) 4-1: Wild Card-Manitoba (Fleury/Njegovan) 3-2: Northern Ontario (McCarville) 3-2: Saskatchewan (Barker) 3-3: Wild Card-Ontario (Homan/Miskew) 2-3: Wild Card – Saskatchewan (Carey) 2-3: Newfoundland-Labrador (Hill) 2-4: Prince Edward Island (Birt) 0-6: Nunavut (MacPhail)
(Monday 5PM, January 31)A PERFECT MANITOBA MONDAY AT THE SCOTTIES: Manitoba’s three team won their only games of the day on the first two draws Monday – in three distinctly different manners. In their pool, Kerri Einarson’s Team Canada dominated Alberta’s Laura Walker, scoring two three’s and two deuces in an 8-end victory, while Mackenzie Zacharias and Team Manitoba gave up a three point lead and had to go an extra end in beating Ontario’s Hollie Duncan. The two lead the way in their pool: Team Canada is perfect at 4W-0L while Team Manitoba has already had their bye and are also perfect at 3W-0L.
EINARSON VS Alberta: WIN 10-5 EINARSON VS Quebec: WIN 8-5 EINARSON VS Nova Scotia: WIN 6-3 EINARSON VS Ontario: WIN 12-5
ZACHARIAS VS Ontario: WIN 8-7 ZACHARIAS VS Yukon: WIN 12-3 ZACHARIAS VS British Columbia: WIN 6-5
Both teams will play two games Tuesday. Current standings:
4-0: Team Canada (Einarson) 3-0: Team Manitoba (Zacharias) 2-1: Team Nova Scotia (Black) 2-1: Team Northwest Territories (Galusha) 2-2: Team Quebec (St-Georges) 2-2: Team Alberta (Walker) 1-3 British Columbia (Arsenault) 0-3: Yukon (Birnie) 0-4: Ontario (Duncan)
In the other pool Selena Njegovan is proving her ability to move back to the tee, if/when the future time comes when that becomes necessary. After the close (6-5 loss) opening draw loss to still undefeated Andrea Crawford and her Nova Scotia team, Njegovan has skipped the Tracy Fleury team to three consecutive victories with their bye on Monday evening.
FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Wild Card-Ontario: WIN 11-9 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Prince Edward Island: WIN 9-1 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Saskatchewan: WIN 9-7 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS New Brunswick: LOSS 6-5
The Njegovan led Fleury team has one game Tuesday. Group standings:
4-0: Team New Brunswick (Crawford) 3-1: Wild Card-Manitoba (Fleury/Njegovan) 2-1: Northern Ontario (McCarville) 2-1: Saskatchewan (Barker) 2-2: Wild Card-Ontario (Homan/Miskew) 1-2: Wild Card – Saskatchewan (Carey) 1-2: Newfoundland-Labrador (Hill) 1-3: Prince Edward Island (Birt) 0-4: Nunavut (MacPhail)
(Sunday 10PM, January 30)STRONG SCOTTIES START FOR MANITOBA’S TEAMS: The three Manitoba teams had a strong opening weekend at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay.
Playing in the same pool, Kerri Einarson’s Team Canada has marked up three wins to lead the way. Mackenzie Zacharias and her Team Manitoba had their bye on the opening weekend but won the two games they played.
EINARSON VS Quebec: WIN 8-5 EINARSON VS Nova Scotia: WIN 6-3 EINARSON VS Ontario: WIN 12-5
ZACHARIAS VS Yukon: WIN 12-3 ZACHARIAS VS British Columbia: WIN 6-5
As a result of opening weekend play, the two Manitoba teams top the standings in their pool.
3-0: Team Canada (Einarson) 2-0: Team Manitoba (Zacharias) 2-1: Team Nova Scotia (Black) 2-1: Team Quebec (St-Georges) 2-1: Team Alberta (Walker) 1-1: Team Northwest Territories (Galusha) 0-2: Yukon (Birnie) 0-3 British Columbia (Arsenault) 0-3: Ontario (Duncan)
In the other pool, the Wild Card Manitoba entry of Tracy Fleury has an impressive 2W-1L start. After losing their opener to New Brunswick, who are the only unbeaten team in the group after three games, the East St. Paul team won two games on Sunday. Selena Njegovan has had to skip the team with Fleury being in covid-protocol isolation after a positive test result.
FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Prince Edward Island: WIN 9-1 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS Saskatchewan: WIN 9-7 FLEURY/NJEGOVAN VS New Brunswick: LOSS 6-5
The two Team Fleury wins have them squarely in the top half of the pool standings after the opening weekend.
3-0: Team New Brunswick (Crawford) 2-1: Wild Card-Manitoba (Fleury/Njegovan) 2-1: Wild Card-Ontario (Homan/Miskew) 2-1: Northern Ontario (McCarville) 1-1: Saskatchewan (Barker) 1-1: Wild Card – Saskatchewan (Carey) 1-1 Prince Edward Island (Birt) 0-2: Newfoundland-Labrador (Hill) 0-3: Nunavut (MacPhail)
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