Jennifer, Jeff looking good

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This article was published 15/04/2011 (5488 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. — Two of the pre-bonspiel favourites booked their spots in the final round of the GP Car and Home Players’ Championship on Thursday afternoon.

Defending champion Cheryl Bernard of Calgary and Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones won the A-side qualifiers and will be part of the eight-team playoffs.

Bernard, whose team will part ways after this event, scored three with hammer in the eighth to beat Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay, Ont., 6-4. McCarville isn’t playing this week, instead her team is being skipped by Calgary’s Crystal Webster.

Jones edged Chelsea Carey 6-5 in an all-Winnipeg matchup.

The men’s A-side qualifiers were set for late Thursday night. Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton beat Edmonton’s Kevin Koe 9-4 in a battle of the two most recent world champions. A three-spot in the seventh turned the tide.

“You kind of forget how many rocks Kevin Koe likes to put in play,” Stoughton said. “There’s a lot of ends where there’s a lot of congestion around that four-foot, and we were fortunate to get a three and took control of the game.”

Stoughton was to play Sweden’s Niklas Edin late Thursday with a berth in the final round on the line.

The other A-side qualifier will feature the 2007 world champion, Glenn Howard of Coldwater, Ont., against Edmonton’s Kevin Martin, the 2008 world champ. Martin moved on with a 5-4 win over Rob Fowler of Brandon on Thursday afternoon.

Four other women’s teams have reached B-side qualifiers. Ottawa’s Rachel Homan stole two in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead and beat Sweden’s Stina Viktorsson 7-5; Desiree Owen of Grande Prairie put four on the board in the fifth and defeated Edmonton’s Jessie Kaufman 7-4; Scotland’s Eve Muirhead also used a four-spot in the fifth in her 6-4 win over Edmonton’s Heather Nedohin and Calgary’s Shannon Kleibrink scored six unanswered points over the final three ends to beat Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott 7-3.

Owen was to play Carey, Homan met McCarville and Muirhead faced Kleibrink in B-side qualifiers late Thursday.

Earlier, Winnipeg’s Cathy Overton-Clapham and Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg were the first two teams eliminated from the event. Overton-Clapham blew a 4-1 lead and lost 7-5 to Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton in a C-side game. Hasselborg fell 5-2 to Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater, Ont., 5-2.

On the men’s C-side, Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen — the Capital One Cup points leader — staved off elimination with a 9-2 win over Calgary’s Brent Bawel. The win included a six-spot in the sixth. Toronto’s John Epping stayed alive with a 7-1 win over Calgary’s Brock Virtue.

In B-side games, Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., defeated Ottawa’s Mat Camm 6-2; Edmonton’s Robert Schlender defeated Calgary’s Steve Petryk 6-1 and Fowler scored a pair in an extra end to beat Pat Simmons of Davidson, Sask., 6-5.

Both the women’s and men’s events carry a $100,000 purse. Canadian Team Ranking System points are also on the line as teams begin to try to qualify for the 2014 Olympics.

The women’s final is Saturday and the men wrap up on Sunday.

— Postmedia News