Road To Vancouver 2010 Goes Through Yorkton
20/03/2009 05:18
Olympic trial berths, $150,000 up for grabs at bonspiel
It took 11 ends but Regina's Michelle Englot was able to take advantage of her extra life in the Canada Cup of Curling in Yorkton, Sask.
Englot defeated Kelly Scott of Kelowna, B.C., 7-6 with a steal of one in the 11th end to open the Canada Cup on Wednesday with a win. The opening-draw victory completed what has turned out to be an interesting journey to Yorkton for Englot, who wasn't among the original 10 women's teams taking part in the bonspiel.
Englot, who is curling with Deanna Doig, Roberta Materi and Cindy Simmons, was awarded a berth in the Canada Cup after Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones was forced to withdraw. Jones successfully defended her Canadian women's curling championship and withdrew because she starts the women's world championship in Gangneung, South Korea on Saturday.
Some of the teams for the Canada Cup were selected based on their standings in the Canadian Team Ranking System, which is being used to determine representatives for the Canadian Olympic team trials. Englot missed qualifying for the event through that route by a point when the numbers were totalled on Dec. 17. Englot was informed that she was in the Canada Cup on March 2, the day after Jones clinched the Canadian title.
"Because we missed it by one point, it was a little disappointing," Englot said Wednesday from Yorkton. "But we also knew that there was a conflict (with the women's world championship) and there were actually four teams at the Scotties who could have won for us to get a spot. We knew that we had a pretty good chance of making it."
Englot never got going in the night draw, falling 9-3 to Calgary's Shannon Kleibrink. Englot, Scott and Kleibrink are all 1-1 and trail Pool A leader, Halifax's Mary-Anne Arsenault who sports a 2-0 record. Arsenault scored a 5-3 win over Kleibrink and beat winless Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater, Ont. 9-3.
In the other pool, Quebec's Marie-France Laroche and Regina's Amber Holland both finished the opening day at 2-0. Holland rallied to beat Saskatoon's Stefanie Lawton 10-8 in the night draw. She needed to score three in the 10th to tie and stole two in the extra end for the win. Holland also beat Cheryl Bernard of Calgary 8-5. Larouche beat Middaugh 8-5 and Bernard 12-9.
On the men's side, Edmonton's Kevin Martin, who was unbeaten en route to his second straight Canadian men's curling championship in Calgary on Sunday, continued his hot streak in Yorkton. Martin stole two in the ninth and another in the 10th to beat Russ Howard of Moncton, N.B., 8-6. He thieved his way to victory again in the night draw, stealing two in the 10th to beat Brad Gushue of St. John's, N.L., 9-7.
Martin is alone with a 3-0 record in Pool A, followed by Wayne Middaugh of Coldwater, Ont., at 2-1, Brad Gushue of St. John’s, Nfld. and Mike McEwan of Winnipeg are 1-2. Howard is 0-3.
Winnipeg's Jeff Stoughton leads Pool B at 2-0. He beat Edmonton's Kevin Koe 7-5 and defeated Middaugh 5-2. Kevin Koe of Edmonton sits at 2-1, while Edmonton’s Randy Ferbey is 1-1. Another Winnipegger, Kerry Burtnyk, and Ted Appelman of Edmonton are at 1-2.
More from the Edmonton Journal.
SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:
Although I’m not surprised that Edmonton’s Kevin Martin is 3-0, I am surprised that he was in trouble late in both of his games Wednesday and his first game yesterday, and had to steal all three victories. Best of luck to some of the other competing teams, like St. Albert’s Cathy King, for example.
Ten men's and 10 women's team are vying for a total purse of $150,000. The winners receive $25,000 each and earn berths in the Canadian Olympic team pre-trials or the trials, depending in their past results. Both the men’s and women’s semi-finals (Saturday) and finals (Sunday) will be broadcast live this weekend on TSN and TSN-HD.