Jones, Fleury flying high at Olympic trials

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This article was published 22/11/2021 (1399 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SASKATOON — Tracy Fleury is revealing no vulnerabilities at the Canadian Olympic Trials.

The gang from East St. Paul with an import skip from Sudbury, Ont., has yet to lose in three outings at SaskTel Centre. Ranked No. 1 in women’s play by the World Curling Federation, the event’s top seed cruised to a 9-2 triumph in eight ends over Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay, Ont., on Monday’s late draw.

Fleury posted an el-perfecto, receiving full marks in each of her 16 deliveries. Did she know she was mistake-free during the contest?

“I didn’t notice. I actually thought I had a couple of misses,” she said, with a smile. “A little generous.”

Fleury, third Selena Njegovan, second Liz Fyfe and lead Kristin MacCuish registered a cumulative 90 per cent shooting accuracy, while McCarville’s crew, now 1-3 and in dire straits, was just 73 per cent.

“Pretty efficient, we felt like we had control,” said the soft-spoken Fleury, who guided her team to three bonspiel victories this fall, including the Grand Slam tour’s Masters. “We definitely feel in a zone and we feel like we’re peaking at the right time. It’s been a strong season for us and we’re happy that we’re able to bring it into this (event).”

Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones is flying high at the Trials, too. The 2014 Olympic champion improved to 4-0 and has sole possession of first place after a 7-5 victory over Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta. (2-2) in the evening.

Kerri Einarson’s Gimli team jumped to 2-2 after pinning a 9-5 loss on Edmonton’s Laura Walker (1-3). Ontario’s Rachel Homan (1-2) hit the win column with a 9-6 win over Kelsey Rocque of Edmonton (0-3).

Just three of nine teams make the weekend playoff in women’s and men’s play. The winners don Canadian colours at the Beijing Olympics in February.

Mike McEwen, meanwhile, carries an umblemished 2-0 record into a Tuesday meeting with Brendan Bottcher’s struggling squad from Edmonton (0-3).

In the Battle of Manitoba, McEwen and his West St. Paul team, with third Reid Carruthers, second Derek Samagalski and lead Colin Hodgson, bombed Jason Gunnlaugson of Morris 11-2 on Monday afternoon. Leading 2-1 through six ends, McEwen exploded for a count of four to seize command.

“Probably the biggest thing was we were very patient. It was a tight-scoring game and (Gunnlaugson now 0-2) just made a ton of doubles early on,” said McEwen, who lost the 2017 Trials final on last rock to Kevin Koe of Calgary. “We thought we had a few opportunities and Jay took them away. We just stated patient and finally got a moment when he couldn’t make three or four rocks fly.”

Calgary’s Kevin Koe rose to 2-1 after a 10-3 thrashing of Saskatchewan’s Matt Dunstone (0-3). A pair of former Olympic champions are a rung above McEwen in the standings. Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., are both 3-0.

Tanner Horgan of Kingston, Ont., is 1-1, while Toronto’s John Epping is 1-2. Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton, who earned his first Brier title in March, has fallen on hard times here and is winless in three contests.

The rocks were sandpapered — a process designed to increase curl — Sunday evening and players were advised in advance. That’s not what happened at the Brier inside the Calgary bubble when Curling Canada failed to informed some teams.

In health news, New Bothwell, Man., resident Kate Cameron was too ill to play Monday, although the Trials head doctor believes her symptoms are not related to COVID-19. And a negative rapid-test result backs that up.

Cameron, an import on Laura Walker’s Edmonton-based team, was to have a PCR test Tuesday. Her teammates all tested negative Monday. She was replaced by B.C. resident Erin Pincott in the matchup with Einarson. Team Walker gets the bye on Tuesday.

 

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell