Fort Rouge rink headed for playoffs in Oly pre-trials

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This article was published 11/11/2017 (3129 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Briane Meilleur’s curling team is playoff bound at the Canadian Olympic pre-trials in Summerside, P.E.I., and a couple of Manitoba foursomes are still gunning to get there, too.

The Fort Rouge skip, supported by third Breanne Knapp, second Janelle Vachon and lead Sarah Neufeld, finished with a 4-2 record in round-robin play in Pool B – tied with Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay, Ont., Kerri Einarson of East St. Paul and Sherry Middaugh of Coldwarter, Ont.

But McCarville and Meilleur were awarded the first and second spots, respectively, because of their better head-to-head records against Einarson and Middaugh. Only three teams in each of the two seven-team women’s pools make the weekend playoffs. Einarson and Middaugh will play a third-place tiebreaker Saturday morning at 5:30 a.m. CT.

In Pool A, Julie Tippin and her Woodstock, Ont., team locked up first place with a 4-2 record, while five teams — Shannon Birchard of St. Vital, Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque, Halifax’s Theresa Breen, Calgary’s Nadine Scotland and Shannon Kleibrink of Okotoks, Alta. — finished 3-3, forcing tiebreakers.

Rocque was awarded second in the pool based on her superior record in head-to-head encounters between the tied teams.

Late Friday night, Birchard ousted Kleibrink 7-6 in an extra-end in a tiebreaker, while Scotland hammered Breen 9-5. So, Birchard and Scotland will now face each other Saturday at 11:30 a.m. for the final playoff berth.

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On the men’s side, Jason Gunnlaugson of the Granite Club (3-3) is also in a tiebreaker at 5:30 a.m. CT, against Jamie Murphy of Halifax for the final playoff spot in Pool A. Glenn Howard of Etobicoke, Ont., finished off a perfect 6-0 round, while John Morris of Vernon, B.C., (3-3) was awarded the second spot.

In Pool B, Charley Thomas of Edmonton (5-1) claimed the first spot. There is a four-way tie for second place at 3-3 behind him, featuring William Lyburn of the Granite, Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton, Greg Balsdon of Kingston, Ont,, and Dayna Deruelle of Brampton, Ont.

Based on head-to-head results within the pool of tied teams, Bottcher was awarded second place. The other three times will go the tiebreaker route, with Deruelle and Lyburn playing at 5:30 a.m. CT, and the winner will meet Balsdon later Saturday.

Twelve teams in total, from a starting field of 28, make the playoffs. By late Sunday, two teams from each of the women’s and men’s events will have earned the right to compete in Canadian Olympic Trials in Ottawa, set for the first week of December.

– Staff