No stopping Fleury

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This article was published 20/11/2021 (1599 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SASKATOON — Tracy Fleury has extended her sensational string of success against Manitoba rival Kerri Einarson in the 2021-22 curling season.

Exactly where it happened is of considerable consequence.

The 35-year-old skip and her East St. Paul team downed Einarson’s Gimli squad 7-4 Saturday afternoon on the opening women’s draw of the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, in front of 4,558 spectators at SaskTel Centre.

Remarkably, the two-time reigning Scotties national champions have yet to beat Fleury in five tries since early September. Then again, the world’s No.1-ranked foursome has seemingly dispatched of just about every challenger it’s faced.

Fleury already has a Grand Slam tour title and a pair of World Curling Tour event victories this year. Now, the import from Sudbury, Ont., has guided her team to a rock-solid start at Canada’s most significant tournament.

“It’s nice for our confidence going forward and we feel like we have a bit of momentum now,” Fleury said. “But had we dropped that one, I feel like we would have regrouped. It’s a long week but it is nice to start off this way.”

In men’s action, Mike McEwen of West St. Paul clobbered his old friend from Winnipeg, Matt Dunstone, now of Saskatchewan, 7-2, Kevin Koe of Albert trounced Ontario’s Tanner Horgan 9-2, Brad Jacobs dumped Ontario rival John Epping 9-3, and Brad Gushue of Newfoundland-Labrador scores three in the 10th end to down 2021 Brier winner Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton 6-4.

Fleury has skipped Einarson’s three former teammates — Selena Njegovan, Liz Fyfe and Kristin MacCuish — since the onset of the 2018-19 campaign.

“They’ve all been really close games with them, they could have gone either way,” said Fleury. “It’s just a shot here or there that made the difference in all of them.”

Njegovan said they possess no secret formula to get the best of their ex-skip.

“I don’t know, I just think we’ve been playing really consistently all year and having a ton of fun and the results are showing up on the ice,” she said.

Two-time Scotties national champion Chelsea Carey, is the alternate for the Fleury quartet. She said Fleury’s numbers speak for themselves.

“They’ve got a winning record (31-5) against everybody in the world this season. So, I don’t know that it’s any different against Kerri than it is against anybody else,” Carey said. “They’re just playing really well at the end of the day and getting some breaks when they need them. I don’t think the opponent is so much the issue, they’ve beat a lot of really good teams, Kerri included.”

Two shots, in particular, told the story in the Trials opener.

Einarson’s last stone of the third end picked up some debris and spun erratically, opening the door for an easy deuce for Fleury and a 3-1 lead.

“My rock went sideways, so I had no chance of doing anything with that thing. That was a tough break. It is what it is and it’s part of the game and you’ve just got to shake it off,” said Einarson.

Later, her team of third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Briane Meilleur scored a pair to pull even 4-4 in the seventh end. Fleury blanked the eighth to retain hammer and then delivered a dandy with her last rock, slipping past a guard with perfect weight to chip out a red counter and stick around for three.

“It was a really big opportunity for us there, so we definitely wanted to make that one. I just had to throw it close, and Selena called the line great for us,” said Fleury.

Nine women’s teams play a round-robin this week and the top three make the weekend playoffs. The winners of the women’s and men’s Trials will represent Canada this coming February at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

During the 2017 Trials in Ottawa, three losses proved to be the threshold to make the playoffs in men’s and women’s play.

That year, Homan and Kevin Koe of Calgary were the last teams standing, although neither captured a medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Jones, a former Winnipegger who now resides in Horseshoe Valley, Ont., said she’d relish an opportunity to wear the Maple Leaf again but refuses to gaze too far ahead.

“It’s always nice to win the first game. We weren’t nervous at all,” said the veteran skip, who leads a St. Vital squad of third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jocelyn Peterman and lead Dawn McEwen. “It’s important to get any kind of win you can out there. This field is tough and it’s a short week, a smaller round-robin. You need to get as many wins as you can. Winning your first game definitely puts you in a better frame of mind.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell