Stoughton earns trip to Oly trials

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This article was published 13/11/2009 (6100 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jeff STOUGHTON and Crystal Webster are headed to Edmonton.

The skips were the first to earn berths to the Canadian Olympic trials at the Road to the Roar pre-trials event in Prince George, B.C.

That Stoughton will be playing the Roar of the Rings at Rexall Place next month is no surprise. The top seed was expected to grab one of the four men’s berth up for grabs this week.

“It’s just fantastic,” Stoughton told TSN. “This is what we were focused on for the year, now we can focus on Edmonton. There was never an Edmonton unless we got through Prince George and we played three great games and took the easy way.”

Webster, on the other hand, turned a few heads as the seventh seed after rattling off four straight wins and beating the top women’s seed, Kelly Scott, in the A-side final.

Pat Simmons built a 6-4 lead against Stoughton in the men’s A-side final, but the Winnipeg skip rallied with a deuce in the eighth and a steal of one in the ninth. Simmons tied it up in the 10th, but Stoughton used the hammer in the extra end to score one and win 8-7.

“The guys played great, made the big shots at the right time and we’re just really looking forward to Edmonton,” Stoughton said.

Simmons, the 10th seed from Davidson, Sask., will play Toronto’s Wayne Middaugh, the second seed, in a B-side semifinal on Friday.

In the women’s A-side final, Webster stole four in the first end against Scott, from Kelowna, B.C., to grab a quick lead. But Scott, a two-time Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion clawed back to level the score at four after four ends. From there it was back and forth.

“It was great getting that jump-start but I told the girls it was a long game and it’s hard to protect a lead for that long,” Webster said. “I had a feeling it would still come down to a tight game in the end.”

Webster held last rock in the 10th and when Scott was light with her last shot, she was left with a hit for two and a 9-7 win. Scott’s squad bounced back admirably with a 9-2 win over third-seed Mary France Larouche from St. Romuald, Que., in a B-side game later Thursday.

She will have another chance to earn a trip to Edmonton when she meets Krista McCarville’s rink in the B-side final on Friday.

McCarville, from Thunder Bay, Ont., stole four straight points over three ends in a 6-3 win over Amber Holland from Kronau, Sask., in the other B-semi.

In men’s action, Winnipeg’s Kerry Burtnyk staved off elimination by stealing one in the ninth and two more in the 10th to defeat Greg McAulay of Richmond, B.C., 6-5, in a C-side match. He will face a fellow Manitoban, Jason Gunnlaugson from Beausejour on Friday. Gunnlaugson took out Joel Jordison of Moose Jaw, Sask., 5-3 in another C-side game.

Brad Gushue, the 2006 Olympic gold medallist, is now down to his last life. He lost 7-6 to Edmonton’s Ted Appleman in a B-side quarter-final after giving up a steal of two in the 10th. Gushue, from St. John’s, N.L., needs to win three in a row beginning on Friday to have a shot at defending his medal.

In other B-side quarter-finals, Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen battled back from a 7-5 deficit to edge Jean-Michel Menard of St. Romuald, 8-7 and Wayne Middaugh beat Bob Ursal from Kelowna 6-4.

In Thursday’s B women’s quarter-finals, McCarville defeated Ottawa’s Rachel Homan 8-7, while Larouche routed Cathy King of Edmonton 10-4. Holland defeated Sherry Anderson of Saskatoon 8-6.

— Canwest News Service