Jones faces Spencer in battle of undefeated Scotties rinks

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/01/2015 (4121 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINKLER, Man. – While Jennifer Jones and her golden Olympic rink kept rolling through the Manitoba provincials on Friday afternoon, Michelle Montford suffered her first setback of the round robin.

Montford fell 9-1 to fellow Assiniboine Memorial skip Barb Spencer in the afternoon draw at Winkler Arena, her first loss of the round robin. It wasn’t even a tight match: after Montford scored one in the first end, Spencer replied with a deuce in two, then stole at least one point in each of the next four ends to put the game away. “We came out really strong today, and hopefully we can keep it going for the rest of the week,” Spencer said.

Spencer’s win left her and Jones the only unbeaten team in their round robin group through five games, as Montford fell to 4-1. That situation won’t last long: Jones and Spencer are set to face off at 7:45 p.m. on Friday night. Montford, meanwhile, will play Darcy Robertson (3-2) in the evening draw. The latter fell 9-0 to Jennifer Jones in their afternoon game, as the Olympians continued their roll.

On Friday morning, Kerri Einarson just kept rolling, orchestrating a thumping of the Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts’ second-seeded team.

In the first draw of the day at Winkler Arena, Einarson and her East St. Paul foursome toppled Granite’s Jill Thurston. What was even more impressive was how they did it, grabbing a 9-5 win on the back of three steals – including a grand theft four-ender in the fourth end of the game. The teams shook after eight.

“We’re feeling really good,” Einarson said. “This game we got off to a little rough start in the first end, but after the first end we sure picked it up. We kept rolling after we stole one, that was a huge point to steal, and then we stole four. We played really good ends.”

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

The Warm-Up

Winnipeg Jets Game Days

On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.

Sign up for The Warm-Up

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

With the win, Einarson rose to 5-0 on the week, the only undefeated skip in her Extreme Force round robin group. Granite’s Kristy McDonald, who rose to 4-1 with a confident 9-2 morning victory in just five ends over Assiniboine Memorial’s Janet Harvey, is second.

It’s remarkable how Einarson has a knack for making waves at the Manitoba Scotties. Last year, she was the talk of Virden after surging undefeated to the final, though she lost to Chelsea Carey there. This time around, she opened her Scotties by stealing eight against Dauphin’s Tiffany McLean – in the process, making history as the first skip ever to score eight at a provincial Scotties – and now knocking off Thurston in the round robin to keep her unbeaten streak alive.

Team Einarson’s next test will come in the 4 p.m. draw on Friday, when they face veteran Janet Harvey. These have been a rocky Scotties for Harvey, a three-time past Manitoba champion – at 1-4 on the week, she is well out of playoff contention. But Einarson said she doesn’t plan to take the match-up lightly.

“These last few games are still huge,” she said. “They’ll come out shooting, for sure. They always do — against me, anyway.”

The Manitoba Scotties continues Friday with draws at 4 p.m. and 7:45 p.m.