Ten teams still alive in Home Hardware Canada Cup

The playoff scenario got a little bit clearer Friday afternoon but going into the final evening draw of the Home Hardware Canada Cup, presented by Meridian Manufacturing there still remain five teams in the mix in both the men and women. Olympic champion Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont., and Val Sweeting of Edmonton posted wins to guarantee themselves of at least being involved in tiebreakers. Jacobs beat John Morris of Calgary 11-6, Howard nipped Kevin Koe of Calgary 4-3 and Sweeting got past Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater, Ont., 5-4. In the other afternoon games, Sherry Anderson of Saskatoon handed Rachel Homan of Ottawa her first loss, 8-3, and Allison Flaxey of Listowel, Ont., got her first win, 6-4 over Heather Nedohin of Sherwood Park, Alta. The results left Howard at 4-1 and Jacobs at 4-2. Mike McEwen of Winnipeg and Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L. are at 3-2. Koe is 2-3 with Morris and Jim Cotter of Vernon, B.C. at 1-4. On the women’s side Homan is 4-1, Sweeting 4-2, Nedohin and Olympic champion Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg 3-2, Anderson 3-3, Middaugh 1-4 and Flaxey 1-5. The final draw sees Koe play Gushue, McEwen against Morris and Howard play Cotter on the men’s side. Nedohin will meet Middaugh and Jones plays Homan on the women’s side. All five games will impact the final standings. “We did our job today, which is want we wanted to do and now we just wait and see how things shake out from here,” Sweeting said after her last-rock draw had just enough weight to get to the four-foot for her win. “It just depends on who wins and loses, who beats who, and the draw to the button to see where we all end up.” For Jacobs, who needed both his wins Friday – he beat McEwen in the morning – to get into the thick of things, it’s also a case of sitting and waiting to see the final standings. “Now we can relax a little bit, watch tonight’s draw and see how the chips fall.” Asked how he sees the final scenario, he replied: “No clue. There is no clue… I’m just happy we were able to get a good record and hopefully we will be around on the weekend.” The Home Hardware Canada Cup continues with today’s final draw at 6:30 p.m. MST. TSN/TSN2 and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the Hardware Canada Cup. Click here for the broadcast schedule. The Home Hardware Canada Cup format calls for the men’s and women’s teams to play a three-day round robin, with the first-place teams advancing to their respective finals on Sunday, while the second- and third-place teams meet in semi-finals on Saturday, after any required tiebreakers, to determine the other finalists. For ticket information for the 2014 Home Hardware Canada Cup, go to https://www.curling.ca/2014canadacup-en/tickets/.