In her own words, Robyn Silvernagle’s Saskatchewan rink finished on the “other side of the inch” against Manitoba Tuesday night at the Scottie Tournament of Hearts with a 10-6 loss to Kerri Einarson out of the Gimli Curling Club.
The game started well for Saskatchewan, as they forced Manitoba to take a single point in the first end.
However, Silvernagle missed an attempted triple-takeout for two in the second, giving Manitoba a 4-0 lead.
Silvernagle managed to bounce back, scoring two in the third end, only trailing 4-2.
However, Silvernagle flashed a tap-in with her last rock in the fourth, allowing Einarson to make a draw to score five. After a single by Silvernagle in the fifth, Saskatchewan trailed 9-3.
Silvernagle managed to narrow the gap with a couple of steals in the sixth and seventh ends before Einarson was forced to take a single point in the eighth end, taking a 10-5 lead.
Silvernagle was forced to take a single point in the ninth, and decided to concede with one end remaining, resulting in a 10-6 final.
After the game, Silvernagle said the team is ready to move on to their next game.
“We’ll just come out firing (Wednesday) night like we need to,” Silvernagle said. “That game we stuck in it, got a few steals, but just couldn’t quite pull it off, so we’ll just have to play a little bit better (Wednesday).”
Saskatchewan still has a chance at the championship pool, as they face Northern Ontario in the round-robin finale on Wednesday night in Moose Jaw. A win pushes them into the championship pool, while a loss could result in a tie-breaker scenario.
Earlier in the day, the North Battleford rink beat Quebec 5-3 to set up the first place showdown with Manitoba. Einarson was upset by New Brunswick’s Andrea Crawford by a score of 13-7. In the 7th end of that game, Crawford scored seven to set a Scotties record for most points scored in one end.
“We didn’t see that until my last shot,” Crawford said. “I don’t think we counted anything until it was done. I knew I was throwing for a lot but didn’t know it was seven.”
After their win against Saskatchewan, Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson was asked about going from giving up a seven-point end in the afternoon to scoring a five-point end in the evening. She said it goes to show the level of curling being played.
“Every team here is really good, and you have to play your best,” Einarson said. “If you’re not as sharp, then you’re not going to win.”
In other games from Draw 11, New Brunswick used four straight stolen points to defeat Quebec 11-6 after 9 ends of play, and Ontario picked up a 9-5 win over Northwest Territories, propelling them to the Championship round.
Team Wildcard also secured their birth into the Championship round with a 9-7 extra end win over Nova Scotia.
