A crowd-pleasing win for Flaxey at the Scotties

Ontario’s Allison Flaxey came into Draw 11 looking for her second win at the 2014 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, and on Wednesday afternoon, Flaxey and her team of Katie Cottrill, Lynn Kreviazuk, Morgan Court, alternate Kim Tuck and coach Mort Cooper forced mistakes out of Alberta’s Val Sweeting to score a 7-5 victory in front of a noisy crowd at Maurice-Richard Arena.
Allison Flaxey (Photo CCA/Andrew Klaver)

Allison Flaxey (Photo CCA/Andrew Klaver)

“It feels really good,” Flaxey said after the game. “We haven’t been playing as well as we could have all week, and to show that we a good, solid team, and we belong with the favourites and can play with the favourites, it shows people why we’re here.” Manitoba’s Chelsey Carey has been churning out victories since a first-day loss to Team Canada and continued to roll against struggling Allison Ross of Quebec. Ross fell behind 10-1 after four ends and just couldn’t find a way to generate any offence against the team from the Fort Rouge Curling Club in Winnipeg. Ross drew for two in the seventh, much to the delight of the partisan Montréal crowd, but it wasn’t enough to stop Carey, who added three points in the eighth on the way to a 15-3 win. Heather Strong also faced an uphill climb in Wednesday afternoon’s draw, trailing Stefanie Lawton 5-1 after the first five ends. Strong, who needs to generate some wins to keep the playoffs in sight, couldn’t score more than singles against Lawton and her team of Sherry Anderson, Sherri Singler, Marliese Kasner, alternate Dailene Sivertson and coach Rick Folk, who have bounced back from battling the flu earlier in the week. “We’re just one game closer to the end,” said Saskatchewan third Sherry Anderson about the need to grind out each game. “We’ve still got a few games yet to play, so you still want to be on that up-slope. We just want to keep playing well.” And in the afternoon’s only other game, B.C.’s Kesa Van Osch, in her first appearance at the Scotties, held her own for seven ends against the Team Canada juggernaut. The B.C. team was able to ice its full contingent for the first time in two days and the teams were tied 2-2 after six ends before Homan scored a three in the eighth and switched to defense for a 7-3 victory. “It was our goal going into that game to keep it really close,” said B.C. third Stephanie Baier, “We wanted to be sure we were capitalizing on any opportunities we got. Defense first, and if we saw an opportunity to switch to a more balanced attack, an offensive shot to apply the pressure, then we would do that.” “It was really nice to have all four of us for that whole game, that’s for sure,” Baier added. “We’re having a wonderful time (at our first Scotties). We’re learning lots and having lots of fun. And Montréal’s a wonderful place to have it.” The Scotties continues with draws on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. , and Thursday at 9 a.m., 2 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. (all times EST). TSN/RDS2, the official broadcaster of the CCA’s Season of Champions, will provide extensive coverage of the 2014 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, with 66 hours of live broadcasts scheduled. The winner of the 2014 Scotties Tournament of Hearts will represent Canada at the Ford World Women’s Curling Championship, presented by Booster Juice, March 15 to 23 in Saint John, N.B. The 2014 Scotties marks the 33rd year of Kruger Products Limited’s sponsorship of the Canadian women’s championship. For ticket information, go to: www.curling.ca/2014scotties-en/tickets/ For schedule information, go to: www.curling.ca/2014scotties-en/draw-schedule/