Kozak, Ursel in the win column at Scotties

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This article was published 23/01/2015 (4098 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINKLER — Tina Kozak doesn’t care what name is on the back of her jacket at the Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts, especially if she is winning.

The skip from Neepawa spent three ends of Thursday afternoon’s game against Janet Harvey wearing the jacket of her third Janelle Schwindt. It seemed to work as Kozak played well enough to earn a 7-6 extra-end victory, her first of the event.

“I just threw one on,” Kozak said. “I didn’t even know till after the game. Her dad’s the coach and he was like, ‘So you were trying to be a Schwindt, were you?’ I didn’t know. It worked.”

Kozak, Schwindt, Quinn Roberts and Caryn Edwards came into the second day of the provincial women’s curling championship with a different attitude. They felt a lot more positive on the ice and just wanted to have fun, which helped the team get into the win column.

It also helped that they put up three in the first end and never trailed. A Kozak draw that crashed on a guard in the 10th end forced an extra, but Harvey (1-3) did the same in the 11th to hand the victory to the Neepawa foursome.

The biggest difference for Kozak, who sports a 1-3 record after falling 8-0 to Kerri Einarson (4-0) last night, was the rocks.

“We weren’t paying attention to the rocks enough,” she said. “On Sheet D, my one rock was 2 1/2 feet short and it took us until the fifth end (to realize it). More experience would lead us to knowing and paying more attention to rocks. Had we known that a little bit earlier, it might have been closer games.”

“We paid closer attention to rocks and wanted yellow,” Kozak said. “We talked to the other teams and felt a little more confident out there.”

While she has a steep hill to climb to make the playoffs, Kozak is still alive for a spot, and so is Terry Ursel’s team of Wanda Rainka, Lisa Davie and Darla Hanke from the Lansdowne Curling Club. Ursel (1-3) bounced back from a 10-2 loss to Michelle Montford (4-0) with an 11-4 upset of Darcy Robertson’s team from Winnipeg, which includes Souris native Michelle Kruk at lead.

The game turned in the seventh end when Ursel stole three, and she kept on stealing until Robertson (3-1) conceded.

“We actually didn’t do as well as we could have,” Ursel said. “We made some mistakes and actually got away with them. It doesn’t always happen. … You have to be really careful and play smart. It’s always nice to win a game or two or three or four or five. We like to win.”

Both teams will need to win out and get help to get into the playoffs. The good news for both teams is they now play the lower seeds to close out the round robin.

Today, Kozak takes on Joelle Brown (3-1) and Souris native Kaileigh Strath (1-3), who’s playing out of Winkler. Ursel faces Colleen Kilgallen (0-4) and Brandon’s Stacey Fordyce (0-4). Fordyce’s team, which includes Kelsey Russill, Kristy Howard, Roz Ripley and Jolene Cumming, has been eliminated from playoff contention with an 8-2 loss to Robertson and a 7-6 defeat to Montford. Tiffany McLean’s Dauphin foursome of Heather Bruederlin, Blaire Rempel and Cassandra Lesiuk is also 0-4 after falling 9-2 to Jill Thurston (3-1) and 12-1 to Kristy McDonald (3-1).

Fordyce will also play Kelly Wiwcharuk (0-4) today. McLean takes on Strath and Brown.

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