Carey one win away

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This article was published 29/01/2012 (5196 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE — Chelsea Carey is one win away from a Manitoba women’s curling championship. Again.

Carey, who lost the 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts final to Cathy Overton-Clapham, will get a second chance to do it at the PCU Centre this afternoon, thanks to a 10-5 win Saturday night over three-time Manitoba champion Barb Spencer in the Page playoff 1 vs. 1 game.

The victory advanced Morden’s Carey straight to this afternoon’s provincial final, while Spencer gets a second chance of her own this morning in the semifinal against four-time Canadian women’s champion Jennifer Jones.

Jones advanced to the semi with an 8-5 win over Lisa DeRiviere’s 14th-seeded rink in Saturday night’s Page playoff 2 vs. 2 game.

Carey was asked why she thought this year’s final will turn out differently than last year’s did — and she had to admit that she can’t be sure it will.

“I think you just get to a final and a lot of it boils down to fate,” said Carey. “Nobody was going to beat Cathy last year. We played well and she was just on a mission. I’m just hoping it’s my turn to be on a mission (today).”

Carey was already on a mission Saturday, making a string of double takeouts against Spencer to bail her team out whenever necessary.

Combined with a stellar performance in a round-robin win over Overton-Clapham on Friday, Carey was asked if she is curling as well right now as she ever has. “Probably pretty close,” said Carey. “There were some troubles early and I was able to pull a couple shots out to keep us in it. And then once we got a lead, (her teammates) were just unbelievable. I don’t think anyone missed a peel, (lead) Lindsay (Titheridge) made a perfect tick. It was quite a performance after the first couple ends.”

It was a very different story for Spencer’s foursome. After opening this event at 6-0, Spencer lost her final round-robin game on Saturday — to her sister, Darcy Robertson — and then looked overmatched against Carey in losing her second straight last night.

Indeed, about the only thing that did go right for Spencer on Saturday came during a ceremony prior to the 1 vs. 1 game, during which Spencer, third Karen Klein and second Ainsley Champagne were all named event all-stars by the Manitoba Curling Media Association. Titheridge rounded out the all-star team.

Carey third Kristy McDonald said her team feels well positioned heading into today’s final. “We’re hitting extremely well. A lot of precise hitting,” McDonald said. “And Chelsea’s making the big shots right now, and that’s what an elite skip needs to do.”

McDonald, who has lost three provincial women’s finals and is a playoff veteran at this event, said she planned to sleep well last night. “This is my seventh playoff in a row,” said McDonald. “We’ll see what (today) is like.”

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The identity of Carey’s opponent in the final will be determined in the semifinal between Jones and Spencer. Spencer won the most recent battle between the two teams, making a very difficult angle-raise takeout with the final rock of the game to stage a dramatic walk-off victory over Jones Friday night.

But Jones appeared to be finding her stride just as Sunday came into view. The veteran skip and her third, Kaitlyn Lawes, made a string of double-takeouts against DeRiviere to stay close.

And then — when disaster almost struck in the eighth end — they got the one big break they needed.

A final-rock draw by Jones in the eighth against three DeRiviere counters picked up some debris midway down the sheet and looked like it was going to come up short and yield a back-breaking steal of three. But Jones second Jill Officer and lead Dawn Askin dug deep and dragged the stone just far enough to count for one.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca