The playoffs are set at the Canadian mixed doubles Olympic curling trials in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. Saskatoon’s Rylan Kleiter, along with his partner Brittany Tran, are the lone Saskatchewan team to qualify.
Kleiter-Tran entered the final round-robin draw on Thursday morning with a 5-1 record as they took on the Edmonton team of Paige Papley and Evan Van Amsterdam. Kleiter-Tran would start quickly by stealing a pair of points in the opening end. Papley-Van Amsterdam would recover, scoring three of their own with the hammer in the second end. It was then Kleiter-Tran’s turn to rebound as they would score a pair in the third end and then steal three in the fourth. Kleiter-Tran would then cruise to an 8-6 victory.
The win improved Kleiter-Tran’s round-robin record to 6-1 which clinched first spot in Pool A heading into the playoffs. They will take on Lisa Weagle and John Epping, who finished second in Pool B, in the opening playoff round tonight.
The news wasn’t as good for Humboldt’s Kirk Muyres and Laura Walker. The pair entered the final draw with a 4-2 record, knowing they would need a win to make the playoffs.
It wasn’t meant to be, as they would face provincial foes Nancy Martin and Steve Laycock, who had to play the spoiler role after a 1-5 record in their first six round-robin games. Martin-Laycock would come out of the hack strong scoring three in the opening end with the hammer. Muyres-Walker tried to force the issue in the second end but was forced to take a single point. The teams exchanged single points in the third and fourth ends, then Martin-Laycock broke the game open with another three-ender in the sixth, which they used to coast to a 7-5 win.
Muyres-Walker would close the round-robin tied with Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing for third place with a 4-3 record. That allowed Jones-Laing to advance to the playoffs by their last shot draw cumulative distance, outdrawing Muyres-Walker by 103.9 centimetres.
Martin-Laycock missed the playoffs with a 2-5 record, tied for sixth in the pool.
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