Einarson still perfect at Killarney Scotties

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This article was published 13/01/2018 (3003 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

KILLARNEY — Nobody has played better so far this week at the Shamrock Centre than the East St. Paul foursome skipped by Kerri Einarson.

The one-time provincial women’s curling champion along with third Selena Kaatz, second Liz Fyfe and lead Kristin MacCuish have yet to drop a game at the Manitoba Scotties of Hearts and enter this morning’s final pool-play contest against Barb Spencer (4-2) atop the Asham Express Red Group at 6-0.

Einarson’s latest victory, 7-4 over last year’s finalist Darcy Robertson on Friday afternoon, clinched her team a spot in tonight’s 1-vs.-1 Page playoff game that starts at 7 o’clock.

A win there would put the 30-year-old mother of twin girls — Kamryn and Khloe — into her fourth provincial final in five years, which is exactly where she wants to be.

Last year in Winnipeg, Einarson was trounced 12-3 by Robertson in a tiebreaker.

“After I threw that last rock I got goosebumps. We knew that we clinched first place, that’s super exciting,” Einarson said.

Einarson was up 2-1 after three ends before she stole one in the fourth end, two in the fifth and another single in six. Robertson (5-1) answered with three in the eighth to put a scare into Einarson before the East St. Paul skip ran Robertson out of rocks in the 10th.

Einarson is just two wins away from a trip to Penticton, B.C., and representing Manitoba at the national Scotties for the second time in three years. That’s all that’s on her mind.

“I want that buffalo for a second time. It was amazing to be at the Scotties and I definitely want to get to Penticton,” she said. “It’s beautiful there, so we’re definitely wanting to come back and wear that.”

Tanya Enns of Brandon came in for Robertson in the seventh end, replacing Vanessa Foster, who is dealing with a wrist injury, in the seventh end. Theresa Cannon moved from lead to second as Enns — making her first appearance at the Scotties since 2011 in Altona — played lead.

“We have a player with a bit of an injury and I’m kind of on call, so I’m glad I was able to help,” the 38-year-old Enns said. “I thought we might make a bit of a comeback but no go.”

With a win over Miami’s Jennifer Clark-Rouire (3-3) this morning, Robertson will qualify for tonight’s 2-vs.-2 Page playoff game. If not, a Robertson loss plus a win by Spencer — her sister — over Einarson would mean they square off in a tiebreaker in the afternoon.

Spencer had Robertson in a massive hole during their clash on Friday morning, up 5-2, but Robertson scored one in seven and stole singles in the eighth, ninth and 10th to win 6-5.

Tiffany McLean and her Brandon club team secured their first win of the week with a hit for two in an extra end to beat Stonewall’s Rebecca Lamb 8-6. McLean later lost 7-4 to Mackenzie Zacharias (3-3) to drop to 1-5.

McLean faces clubmate Cheryl Reed (0-6) this morning in what will be the end of a disappointing week for Reed.

She and her team fell 8-4 to Zacharias before Zacharias beat them 10-5 later in the day on the strength of three three-enders.

“I think we are just trying to be sharp,” Reed’s lead Roslyn Taylor said. “… We have to be sharp and we just decided we wanted to be a little bit more aggressive.”

The Asham Black Group’s playoff teams have been determined.

Winnipeg’s Joelle Brown and Jennifer Jones sit atop the standings at 5-1 after two wins apiece on Friday. If they both win their final pool-play games today, Brown would face Einarson and Jones would await an opponent in the 2-vs.-2 Page playoff game since Brown bested Jones 9-5 on Wednesday.

Brown earned a 7-4 win over Thompson’s Jennifer Briscoe (1-5) using a three-point ninth end, and stole three in a 7-3 triumph over Dauphin’s Lisa Hale-Menard (1-5).

After a slow start to the week, Jones has been pleased by the way her team has played, including a 12-0 blasting of Shannon Birchard (3-3) in the evening.

“We’ve had quite a bit of curling lately so it’s nice to have a short game and I feel like we are playing better,” Jones said. “We started off a bit slow and I feel like we are getting better as every game goes by.”

Carberry’s Alyssa Calvert (3-3) swept her two Friday games, knocking off Hale-Menard 9-4 before erasing a 3-0 deficit to down Briscoe 9-4 in the evening.

The semifinal will take place Sunday at 8:30 a.m., with the final beginning at 2:30 p.m. Both will air on Sportsnet West.

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