THUNDER BAY – It’s down to four teams in Pool B at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Team Canada’s Kerri Einarson, idle on Thursday morning, has already clinched top spot and will head into the playoff round as the No. 1 seed to emerge out of Pool B.
That leaves Nova Scotia (5-2), Manitoba (5-2) and the Northwest Territories (4-3) still alive in contention for the two other spots, the first two teams controlling their own destinies when they wrap up round-robin play in Draw 17 on Thursday night at Fort William Gardens.
Team Manitoba, skipped by Mackenzie Zacharias, picked up their fifth win of the week in the morning draw, scoring four points in two separate ends to pull out a 10-7 win over Alberta’s Laura Walker (3-4), who was eliminated from contention with the loss.
“We came out of the gate pretty hot in the first end, which was nice. That was one of our goals and it worked out for us. But in a 10-end game, scoring four points in the first end, the game is never over and we knew that. We knew we had to keep it close and maintain control and I think we were able to do that,” said Zacharias, who will take on Einarson in her final round robin match, knowing a win will ensure the team, which includes lead Lauren Lenentine, second Emily Zacharias and third Karlee Burgess, will advance.
Walker made them work for it, despite giving up the two big ends, closing the gap to 9-7 through eight. But a blank in nine on a double takeout gave Zacharias the hammer heading home and the Manitoba foursome made the most of it, scoring one to put the game away.
Now the focus turns to Einarson, the two-time defending Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion, who has run the table so far this week, a team Zacharias has yet to beat, a streak that includes a 7-3 loss at last year’s Scotties, inside the Calgary bubble.
“We wanted to put ourselves into a position early on this week where we would have a chance to make the playoffs, because we knew it would come down to this last day, having to play Alberta and Team Canada on the same day,” Zacharias said.
“Those are two really big games – but we were able to put ourselves in a position to make the playoffs and now our destiny is in our own hands.”
So too is the destiny of Team Nova Scotia, whose lineup includes Thunder Bay’s Karlee Everist, the second on Christina Black’s Dartmouth Curling Club foursome.
Nova Scotia defeated Yukon’s Hailey Birnie 10-4 on Thursday, leaving them a win away from the playoffs. They’ll take on Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges in Draw 17.
Kerry Galusha’s Northwest Territories team will need some help to continue their Scotties dream after an 11-6 loss to British Columbia (2-5), skipped by Mary-Anne Arsenault. It was the second straight loss for Galusha, who slipped to 4-4 and needs to beat Walker on Thursday night and have at least one of Nova Scotia or Manitoba drop their final game to advance.
“That was by far our worst game of the week. We felt even though we lost against Team Canada we played a really good second half and we wanted to keep that going. But that didn’t happen today. We didn’t execute at all,” Galusha said.
In Pool A at 2 p.m., Thunder Bay’s Krista McCarville will take on a reinvigorated Wild Card No. 1 team skipped by Tracy Fleury, who will join the team inside the bubble for the first time after being cleared from COVID protocols.
McCarville (5-2) can guarantee a playoff spot with a win or a loss by Saskatchewan’s Penny Barker (4-3), who will play Team Homan (3-4), skipped by Emma Miskew, in Draw 16.
