Robertson locks up playoff spot

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This article was published 26/01/2019 (2687 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GIMLI — Act like you’ve been there 23 times before.

Darcy Robertson’s experience is carrying her team through the Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts better than anyone. With a massive 8-7 extra-end victory over Tracy Fleury in Gimli on Friday, she’s skipping the only undefeated team entering the final day of pool play and is guaranteed a spot in the playoffs at her 24th provincial women’s curling championship.

“I feel at home here, I’ve played in this for a long, long time. It’s all about managing our emotions out here. Even though I’ve been here that long, it’s hard for me to do that. It’s a challenge, and I like that,” Robertson said.

Third Karen Klein and second Vanessa Foster have played in 12 Scotties each, while it’s Theresa Cannon’s fourth trip to the event.

They are still green in comparison to their skip, who has now played in 177 Scotties games, more than anyone else in the history of the tournament which she’s won three times — once as a skip. That’s given her both a unique and simple perspectives on the game.

“I provide the experience,” the 53-year-old said. “Sometimes, because I’ve seen things they haven’t, I can talk to them about it and make them understand, ‘this is how things have to play out for us to win.’”

“Over my career, I’ve thrown thousands and thousands, I don’t even know how many, rocks. You have to do the reps. … That’s what it takes. It takes a lot of hours.”

That experience proved vital when her team fell behind early against Fleury.

Fleury went up 5-2 after six ends, but a rare Fleury miss set up a Robertson deuce in seven, then Fleury struggled again in the eighth. Faced with two rocks frozen in a line in the four-foot behind cover, she was unable to navigate the guards and find the button, giving Robertson (6-0) a 6-5 lead.

Fleury needed to make something in the ninth, and did she ever. She nailed an in-off to remove Robertson’s counter and take two points back and a 7-6 lead heading home.

Fleury kept the 10th wide open, leaving Robertson a routine hit to force the extra end.

All Robertson could do was leave Fleury a delicate hit-and-roll for the win, and she rolled long — only just, however, as it took two measurements before the umpire declared Robertson the winner.

“When she signalled us, I was actually quite surprised,” Robertson said. “I honestly thought it might have been them.”

Fleury (5-1) is still in a good position to make the playoffs due to the new format, in which the teams with the top four records make the playoffs, regardless of what group they are in. Her teammates are vying to return to the national Scotties without their former skip.

If a playoff matchup is in the cards for Selena Njegovan, Liz Fyfe and Kristin MacCuish against their former skip, Kerri Einarson, they’ll be ready with their A-game.

“Every game, we’ve improved a little bit. There’s more improvement to do heading into the weekend, but (today) we control our own fate. We’re ready to play our hearts out,” said MacCuish, who’s 2-1 in Grand Slams against Einarson this year. “It’ll be interesting, and we’re looking forward to playing her if we get the chance.”

Einarson (5-1) dropped her first game of the week Friday, 8-5 to eighth-seeded Barb Spencer. Spencer played lights out to edge the tournament’s top seed.

“We were just a little bit off. We weren’t as sharp as we have been in our last four games prior,” Einarson said. “Our backs are against the wall now.”

In the evening, Einarson knocked off Allison Flaxey 9-6, eliminating the No. 4 seed from playoff contention.

Beth Peterson (5-1) toppled Spencer 12-2. Einarson and Peterson square off today, and the winner has a shot at the 1-vs.-2 game while the loser may end up in a tiebreaker against Abby Ackland, who’s only played one game this week. Ackland missed the first five draws for paramedic training, but her team — with the help of substitute skips Brandi Forrest and Meghan Walter — pulled together a 4-2 record and is still alive.

The Westman teams are all well out of playoff contention, but admit they were in tough against a stacked field.

Tiffany McLean (1-5) — along with Dori-Anne Vince, Hayley Surovy and Cassandra Lesiuk — couldn’t find a victory early in the week, but got in the win column with a 10-5 triumph over Alyssa Calvert on Friday.

“All of us came together really well as a team. We found our draw weight,” Lesiuk said. “I feel like we’re a morning team, though the switch over was tough, we got it done.”

McLean gave Laura Burtnyk back-to-back fours in the afternoon draw and lost 14-3, and finishes up against Arden’s Terry Ursel today.

For them, it’s nice to know they won’t leave the Scotties winless.

“We didn’t get a lot of time as a team playing, but we came in here with an open mind. Hopefully we can enjoy the rest of the weekend,” Lesiuk said. “Just being with teammates, watching curling and seeing who’s going to win the weekend … we really enjoy that.”

Lisa Hale was in a hard-fought battle with Stonewall’s Rebecca Lamb — who has Brandonite Janelle Vachon at second.

Hale stole two in the eighth to tie at 7-7, then surrendered a four the following end to lose 11-7.

“It is a tough field, so we were just going into it to see what we can do,” second Laurie Macdonell said. “We are a little bit frustrated with how things have gone, but it’s fun to come and play on this ice no matter what.”

The team balances schedules with children, mixed doubles teams and distance. With Hale in Dauphin, Macdonell and Lisa Bartley from Winnipeg and Ashley Surminski from Selkirk, it’s a commitment the team almost didn’t make.

In hindsight, they’re glad they did.

“I don’t regret ever getting to a Scotties. As soon as I can play on ice made by the best ice makers around, it’s awesome,” Macdonell said.

Hale (1-5) lost 7-3 to Ackland in the evening, and completes her event against Joelle Brown today.

Calvert (2-4) — and her team of Tanya Enns, Pam Robins and Roz Taylor — rebounded from the morning loss to beat Ursel 14-5, with a four in the fourth and five in the ninth to cap it off.

“It’s been a little bit up and down in terms of our performance, we’re having a good time though,” Robins said. “We get along so well. Trying to learn as we go, and I think you can see that from this week. We stuck with it, and had a really good result.”

The team stayed in a house, spending a lot more time together than they do during the year. There was only one issue.

“The front end eats a lot,” the second said. “You got to keep the calories in you because you just burn through them doing sprints. Sometimes (Calvert) throws really fast and you got to do sprints to keep up to them.”

Ursel (1-5) — with Wanda Rainka, Kayla Hunter and Tracy Igonia — played a lot of games closer than the scores suggested, only giving up big ends late in otherwise close games.

Still, she remains the last Westman skip to reach the playoffs — in 2008 in this very arena, which she said looks different than she remembers.

“I remember lots, but it seemed dark in here. I guess the arenas since then are much brighter, and I’m also a lot older now,” Ursel said.

It wasn’t to be for the team this week, Ursel plans to be back to add to her now 22 Scotties appearances.

“I will not quit curling until I can’t,” she said. “It’s awesome, the ice is awesome, it’s just a really good experience for anybody. Anybody who loves to curl should really try to get (to the Scotties) to play.

“Playing in this atmosphere, curling against all these great teams that are just awesome, it’s fun.”

The playoffs begin this afternoon, and wrap up Sunday. Sportsnet is broadcasting Sunday’s semifinal at 9 a.m., and the final at 3 p.m.

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