The red carpet was rolled out for Team Canada, while Marla Mallett of B.C. and Marie-France Larouche and Team Quebec remained undefeated yesterday, after five draws at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian women's curling championship.
Mallett made a split to score three points in the ninth end against previously undefeated Krista McCarville of Ontario in the late draw at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, giving the Vancouver team an 8-7 win, their third.
"[The start] gets you on a roll. It certainly brings up your confidence," Mallett said, pointing to the split as the key to the game. "I think it was probably a big momentum swing." Also at 3-0, was Jennifer Jones and Team Canada, who kept up their dominating play with a 12-5 win over Manitoba's Barb Spencer.
"We're just on the right side of the inch," said Jones, who wowed the crowed with some spectacular picks and hits. "We're making big shots when we have to." After rolling to a 9-1 victory over Nova Scotia's Nancy McConnery, the Canada foursome did a little acting, performing in a TV shoot for Oscar night outside the Save-on-Foods centre.
A Mountie, resplendent in red serge, opened the door of the red Ford Flex team car, and the players got out and strolled down a red carpet, while the camera rolled.
"It's interesting what they make you do," Jones said.
Larouche began the event with two victories on opening day, and defeated P.E.I., skipped by the previously undefeated Rebecca Jean MacPhee, 9-4 in Draw 4. Quebec kept the pressure on the Maritimers, and really took control in the fourth end.
"We just had a bad end, and just kind of couldn't get ourselves out of the mess we got into," MacPhee said.
P.E.I. had second shot buried in the fourth, but Larouche gently came around a guard and tapped up two of her own rocks enough to move the MacPhee stone and score a deuce, taking a 5-2 lead.
"We're getting our draw weight, and picking up on the ice and rocks," Quebec lead Joëlle Sabourin said, adding the team is focusing on being consistent for their skip. "We have to make sure she has a shot to make. We try to keep her out of trouble." On the other side of the draw, Saskatchewan's Stefanie Lawton continued to struggle, giving up a devastating five-ender in the eighth end to Heather Strong of Newfoundland/Labrador last night. Strong's 10-7 victory was her first win, while Alberta's Cheryl Bernard rebounded from a tough start to the event, with two victories yesterday. Bernard had won the Hot Shots skills competition at the beginning of the Scotties, but couldn't find her form in the opening game.
"I just kept focusing on the Hot Shots," Bernard said. "It wasn't the team, it was me." Bernard said the team strategy for their second game, a 6-5 win over Manitoba, was to tighten up the ice, maybe even hitting a few guards in the process to try to find the middle ground.
"We're catching onto the ice," Bernard said.
Besides Quebec, Canada, and B.C. at 3-0, Ontario, P.E.I. and Alberta are 2-1, Nova Scotia, Andrea Kelly of New Brunswick, and Newfoundland/Labrador are 1-2, and Manitoba, Lawton, and Kerry Galusha of the Northwest Territories/Yukon are 0-3.
IN THE HOUSE
- TODAY
DRAW 6, 8:30 a.m.
Ontario vs. New Brunswick
Newfoundland vs. Yukon/NWT
B.C. vs. Quebec
Saskatchewan vs. P.E.I.
DRAW 7, 1 p.m.
Yukon/NWT vs. Manitoba
New Brunswick vs. Canada
P.E.I. vs. Nova Scotia
Quebec vs. Alberta
Draw 8, 6:30 p.m.
Alberta vs. B.C.
Nova Scotia vs. Saskatchewan
Canada vs. Ontario
Manitoba vs. Newfoundland
