Truro’s Colleen Pinkney Earns Bye to the Final of Senior Women!

With two draws left to go in the round robin, Nova Scotia’s Colleen Pinkney has earned a bye to Sunday’s championship final and the right to once again, represent Canada at the World Seniors. Pinkney’s record is now 9-0 and her closest pursuers have three losses.  Team Nova Scotia was stretched to limit in this clinching game against the host province’s Nola Murphy. The PEI team had entered this game with but one win facing a team that had yet to taste defeat.  Murphy led 5-4 at the break was down 8-5 after seven ends. Murphy scored one in the 8th and surprised Pinkney with a steal of two in the 9th to tie the game. The fairy-tale finish was not to be however, as she could not generate anything in the 10th end. Her final draw wrecked on a stone just outside the rings leaving NS a score of three and an 11-8 win.

Nova Scotia’s Colleen Pinkney, Wendy Currie, Shelley MacNutt, Susan Creelman
photo by Winston Maund

Sunday’s final is scheduled for 10:00 am EST.

Her opponent is still a mystery, however, as there are six teams battling for second and third place – the final two playoff spots. Québec’s Catherine Derick, looking to improve to 7-2, was denied by Vicky Barrett of Northern Ontario. The 7-4 win by Barrett dropped Derick to 6-3 while Barrett improves to 5-4. Joining Derick at 6-3 are Alberta’s Deb Santos and Manitoba’s Lois Fowler. Santos was down 5-0 after five ends against BC’s Karen Lepine.  The St. Albert CC foursome worked their way back to within one playing the last without the hammer. Santos managed to sit two stones buried under guards leaving the full four foot to the button area to draw to. Lepine was way light, not making the house, leaving the steal of two and the unexpected win 8-7. Fowler’s Brandon CC quartet defeated Laura Phillips of Newfoundland & Labrador 7-6 joining that three way tie for second place. Phillips drops to 3-6. NWT’s Ann McKellar-Gillis brought Heidi Hanlon back and out of that tie for second place by beating NB 11-7.  NWT improves to 3-6 while Hanlon is 5-4. The third team with a 5-4 record and hope for playoffs is Cathy Inglis of Yorkton, SK who beat Ontario’s Judy Oryniak 7-3. Here are the standings with two rounds of women’s play remaining. NS (Pinkney) 9 – 0 Que (Derick) 6 – 3 AB (Santos) 6 – 3 MB (Fowler) 6 – 3 Sask (Inglis) 5 – 4 NB (Hanlon) 5 – 4 N. Ont (Barrett) 5 – 4 BC (Lepine) 4 – 5 NL (Phillips) 3 – 6 NWT (McKellar-Gillis)  3 – 6 PEI (Murphy) 1 – 8 Ont (Oryniak) 1 – 8 All results can be found at here. The draw schedule can be found here. The list of teams participating in this seniors championships can be found here. Statistics for previous games played in the round robin can be found here. Play continues all week with the championship finals for both genders scheduled for Sunday, March 24 at 10:00 am EST. The winners will represent Canada at the 2014 World Seniors at a location yet to be announced.