Alberta wins squeaker to remain only unbeaten team at Scotties

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. – Alberta remains the only unbeaten team Monday after six draws at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. In a heavyweight battle between the only two unbeaten teams going into the day, skips Chelsea Carey of Calgary and Krista McCarville of Northern Ontario (Thunder Bay) traded some great shots and make some costly misses, with Alberta eventually prevailing 9-8 to go 4-0. “That was a bit of a roller coaster of emotions,” Carey said after making a routine hit with her final rock to hold Northern Ontario to a single and ensure Alberta the win. “You know it’s going to be a battle so you have to kind of bring yourself down from that 3-0 (thinking). We tend to get too ramped up.” Carey, third Amy Nixon, second Jocelyn Peterman, lead Laine Peters, alternate Susan O’Connor and coach Charley Thomas had a goal to go 1-1 Monday, so although they struggled early, Carey said they’re happy with the result. “We struggled with the ice a bit early on, both teams actually, just some easy shots that were missed, that we thought were thrown OK, that we thought would be close and they weren’t,” she said. “Once we got it figured out we felt pretty confident and kind of controlled it from there.” After Carey was heavy with a draw that gave McCarville two in the second end, the Alberta skip executed a perfect hit-and-stick for three in the third. That came after McCarville was a little light on an attempted triple and eliminated only two Alberta counters. McCarville was light on a last-rock draw in the fourth to allow Alberta to steal three more for a 6-2 lead. “What’s disappointing is that one end we gave up a steal of three,” McCarville said of the game. “That’s a disappointing end but we did try to battle back, we didn’t give up. “We’re still playing pretty good. We had a rough first five ends again but I felt we were building up in the last five.” McCarville made a pressure double takeout in five for a deuce and, when Carey was wide on an attempted double, Northern Ontario stole a single to trail 6-5.
Saskatchewan's Jolene Campbell checks out the situation on Monday afternoon. (Photo, Curling Canada/Andrew Klaver)

Saskatchewan’s Jolene Campbell checks out the situation on Monday afternoon. (Photo, Curling Canada/Andrew Klaver)

Alberta got two back in the seventh and stole one in eight for a four-point lead it nursed to victory. In the other afternoon games, Saskatchewan’s Jolene Campbell (Regina) beat New Brunswick’s Sylvie Robichaud (Moncton) 7-3, Nova Scotia’s Jill Brothers (Halifax) scored three in the 10th to get past British Columbia’s Karla Thompson (Kamloops) 7-4 and Newfoundland-Labrador’s Stacie Curtis (St. John’s) stole three in the fifth to beat Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche (St-Romuald) 10-6 for her first win. The results left Alberta at 4-0, Northern Ontario at 3-1, P.E.I. and Manitoba at 2-1, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia at 2-2, Ontario and Team Canada at 1-2, B.C., New Brunswick and Newfoundland-Labrador at 1-3. There is one more draw today at 6:30 p.m. MT. For ticket and other event information, visit https://www.curling.ca/2016scotties/tickets/ For the complete schedule, go to https://www.curling.ca/2016scotties/draw-schedule/ This story will be posted in French as soon as possible at https://www.curling.ca/2016scotties/?lang=fr TSN (RDS2 in French), the exclusive television network for Curling Canada’s Season of Champions, will provide complete coverage of the 2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.