Carey’s Calgary crew off to strong start at Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings

OTTAWA – Going into every game the goal is to win, but the key at an event like the 2017 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings, according to Chelsea Carey, is not to lose two in a row.

Her Calgary crew remained undefeated by edging fellow Albertan Casey Scheidegger and her team from Lethbridge 8-7 in an extra end in Monday afternoon’s seventh draw. Carey sits atop the nine-team, round-robin standings alongside Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg at 3-0.

“In a field like this, that’s a nice start for sure. There’s plenty of week to go yet. We’re certainly far from having clinched anything,” said Carey, after a short post-game debriefing with her father Dan Carey, who coaches the Reid Carruthers team from Winnipeg.

“The biggest thing is not losing two games in a row. We haven’t lost one yet, luckily, but if we do, and we assume we do, it’s unlikely we go through this field undefeated, just two not lose two in a row you’re doing OK. You’re usually in the mix if you don’t lose two in a row, so that’s kind of the goal.”

Carey and Scheidegger traded control several times. Scheidegger had Carey in trouble for the first two ends, stealing in the first and forcing Carey to make an end-saving draw for the tie in the second. Carey stole in the third and fourth ends when Scheidegger’s hammer throws slid too far. In the fifth, Carey’s last shot was a hit that didn’t stick allowing Scheidegger to draw for two and a 3-3 tie. The next end, Carey had to draw the edge of the button to score but slid too far allowing Scheidegger to steal two and give her the apparent upper hand. But in the seventh, Carey had a free draw for three and a 6-5 lead. In the 10th, Carey forced Scheidegger to make a draw for one to send the game to the extra end.

“It was a roller coaster of emotions, a bit of a see-saw battle, but we expected that,” said Carey, who is supported by third Cathy Overton-Clapham, second Jocelyn Peterman, lead Laine Peters and coach Helen Radford. “She’s (Scheidegger) playing well, too, so we knew it would be a tight game and we were lucky enough to pull off a win there.”

In other women’s action, Val Sweeting of Edmonton finally hit the win column on her fourth try of the event defeating Alli Flaxey of Toronto 10-5 in eight ends.

Although Flaxey scored a single and a steal in the first two ends, Sweeting took control with a three in the third and four more in the fifth for a 7-3 lead.

“It feels good to get on the board,” said Sweeting. “Our first two games, we just had one bad end, and it’s unfortunate that set us back. Regardless of what happened in those games, we have to win those ones ahead of us now anyways. At some point, you’ve got to win five or more games. Unfortunately, we have to do ours five games in a row now.”

Mike McEwen, left, and B.J. Neufeld assess the situation during their win over Team Epping on Monday. (Photo, Curling Canada/Michael Burns)

Flaxey’s team was without Caleb Flaxey, the team’s coach and the skip’s husband. He had to head back home for emergency surgery at North York General Hospital after an infection marred his recovery from recent hip surgery.

On the men’s side, Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen remained unbeaten at 3-0 after downing John Epping of Toronto 8-5 with a steal of two in the 10th end. Epping is 1-2.

The teams started the 10th end with both teams on a time crunch. McEwen had just a minute and 35 seconds of thinking time left while Epping had 1:44. But they whizzed through the end with McEwen having just 24 seconds left when he threw his final shot and Epping 15 ticks with his. The outcome may have been influenced by the shot clock since Epping’s rock sailed past the button allowing McEwen to steal two.

Reid Carruthers’ Winnipeg crew hit the win column for the first time downing Steve Laycock 9-5. The Saskatoon squad had led 4-1 after four ends but went on to surrender five steal points, including one in the ninth and three in the 10th. Carruthers is 1-2 while Laycock is 1-3.

The 2017 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings continues with a draw today at 7 p.m.; Tuesday draws are set for 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (all times EST).

The 2017 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings continues with draws today at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (all times EST).

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2017 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/

TSN/TSN2 and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule

For ticket information for the 2017 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings, CLICK HERE.

This story will be posted in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2017roaroftherings/?lang=fr