Manitoba teams still standing heading into playoff race at Scotties

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This article was published 02/02/2018 (3117 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PENTICTON, B.C. — Three teams from Manitoba entered the 2018 Scotties, and three carried their fight into the brand new championship round. As the home stretch came into view on Thursday night, three were still standing.

And despite arriving here not knowing if she’d stay the week, Kerri Einarson now stands tallest among them.

Einarson seized first place in the playoff race on Thursday, with wins over teams from Ontario and B.C. That lifted her to 8-1 on the week with a tough final day — and a key win against the field’s top seed, Jennfier Jones, in her pocket.

So while Einarson would admit she was feeling pretty excited, she wasn’t about to get too far ahead.

“We definitely have to come out sharp for those,” Einarson said. “Because their backs are against the wall too.”

Now, with two draws left to play and four playoff spots on the line, this is where the Manitobans’ paths will diverge.

Kerri Einarson (8-1), the wild card ascendant, will strive to defend her spot atop the standings. Jennifer Jones (7-2), Manitoba champion, will look to keep her Thursday stride going against tough competition, to snag a top-two finish.

As for Michelle Englot’s Team Canada (5-4), they will look to battle back, with their backs against the wall.

Meanwhile, other teams are jostling for the same playoff spots. Of the eight teams that advanced into Thursday and Friday’s championship round, six are still in playoff contention. (Both Team B.C. and Team Ontario are out at 4-5.)

The others are dangerous, especially after tight Thursday matches. There is Alberta’s Casey Scheidegger, wounded in a Thursday upset by savvy Nova Scotia veteran Mary-Anne Arsensault; the result put both at 7-2 on the week.

Northern Ontario firecracker Tracy Fleury trails that group a little at 6-3, after shutting down Englot Thursday night.

Scoreboard watchers should take note, though. For their last two games, both Fleury and Arsenault will play Ontario and B.C. — the two teams out of the playoff race — while Jones and Einarson must play Englot and Scheidegger.

So let’s recap. Jones strolled through her two matches on Thursday, besting British Columbia’s Kesa van Osch 10-3 in the morning, then steamrolling Ontario’s Hollie Duncan 11-3 at night. Both games ended after eight ends.

Those results washed away the memory of Jones’ disastrous two-loss Wednesday, and — helped a little by Scheidegger’s loss to Arsensault — widened Jones’ possible path to get to the 1-vs-2 Page playoff game.

“At the end of the day, we wanted to be at least 8-3,” Jones said. “We have one more win for that.”

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But Englot and Team Canada’s progress went the opposite way. They’d had a quiet but steady round robin, and looked to be in good position to keep going, but slumped hard against Nova Scotia and Northern Ontario.

It wasn’t for lack of trying: the skipper delivered some magnificent shots against Northern Ontario, though it was under constant pressure. They were simply outshot by the Sudbury, Ont. squad, which made nearly everything.

“There’s not much more we can do,” Englot said. “We came against two really hot teams today. We’re still alive, if you do the math on stuff, so we’ve just got to come out and regroup and play two strong games tomorrow.”

There are two more draws on Friday, at 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. CST. The top four move on to the weekend’s playoffs.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Melissa Martin
Reporter-at-large

Melissa Martin reports and opines for the Winnipeg Free Press.

Every piece of reporting Melissa produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.