Team Canada evens record while Alberta gets to 5-0 at Scotties

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. – Team Canada got back on even ground while Alberta kept rolling right along Monday evening in the seventh draw at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts at Revolution Place. Jennifer Jones and her Winnipeg crew of third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jill Officer, lead Dawn McEwen, alternate Jennifer Clark-Rouire and coach Wendy Morgan subdued a stubborn Newfoundland-Labrador team 6-4 to even their record at 2-2. One sheet over Chelsea Carey and her Calgary foursome had their hands full but finally got past Suzanne Birt of Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown) 5-4. It was Alberta’s second win of the day and left the Carey crew as the only unbeaten team at 5-0. “We played really solid, were never in trouble of giving up multiple points and controlled the game,” Jones said after the impressive but pedestrian victory. Canada scored two in the third for a 3-1 lead and then simply traded singles with Stacie Curtis and her St. John’s foursome. “We don’t push the panic button,” said Jones. “We’ve been around for a long time so we know what we have to do, make the right shots at the right time. “We are getting more comfortable with the ice and feeling good.” In the two other evening games, Jolene Campbell of Saskatchewan (Regina) scored three in the fourth end and went on to beat Kerri Einarson of Manitoba (Winnipeg) 8-4 while Jill Brothers of Nova Scotia (Halifax) scored four in the fourth and stole one in the fifth en route to an 8-7 win over Jenn Hanna of Ontario (Ottawa). The results left Alberta at 5-0, Northern Ontario at 3-1, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia at 3-2, P.E.I., Canada, Manitoba and Quebec at 2-2, Ontario, B.C. and New Brunswick 1-3 and Newfoundland-Labrador at 1-4. Carey had a tooth-and-nail battle with Birt from the opening stone to Alberta’s final rock, a hit and stick for two that gave the Calgarians the victory. “It is a good thing,” Carey said of having to throw last rock for the win. “You’re going to have to at the end of the week so if you don’t do it all week it can be a little scary. It’s nice to have to make some big shots; this game had a bunch of them throughout so that’s a good thing.” Neither team could score anything but singles until the 10^th end when Birt’s last-rock try for a double takeout left Carey the opportunity to get the deuce. “She made a ton of shots so when she missed one in 10 I thought OK this is the only chance I had the whole game I better make it,” said Carey. “And I did, luckily.” There are three draws Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., 1:30 and 6:30 p.m. (all times MST). 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.