Senior women and men are playoff bound in Scotland

Still undefeated, Colleen Pinkney and Wayne Tallon have both secured playoff spots as the round robin winds down at the 2014 World Senior Curling Championships in Dumfries, Scotland. Pinkney, with her team of third Wendy Currie, second Shelley MacNutt, lead Susan Creelman, alternate Judy Burgess and coach Bill Tschirhart, defeated Switzerland’s Susan Limena 8-3 on Monday afternoon. Both teams came into the game tied in the standings at 4-0, and the game was close for five ends. Leading 3-2 in the sixth, Pinkney scored five points to put the game out of reach. Despite the winning record, Pinkney is taking nothing for granted and says her team continues to work at finding their comfort zone. “We felt better in this game,” she said after the win over Switzerland. “I think with every game we are starting to catch onto the ice and the conditions better, which I must say are amazing. The ice is very consistent so we are playing with confidence.” Wayne Tallon and his Fredericton, N.B., team of third Mike Kennedy, second Mike Flannery, lead Wade Blanchard, alternate Charles Kingston and coach Bill Tschirhart are now 7-0, the only team in the men’s competition with an undefeated record. Tallon battled to a 6-5 win over Japan’s Masayasu Sato on Monday morning. Japan opened scoring with a steal of one, but Canada put the pressure on and led 5-3 heading in the seventh. After scoring a single in the seventh, Masayasu was able to steal one more in the eighth, but it wasn’t enough to force the extra end, and Canada walked away with the win. The round robin wraps up on Tuesday morning, with Pinkney (5-0) playing Russia’s Ludmila Murova (0-5) and Tallon (7-0) taking on Germany’s Rainer Schoepp (4-2). The round-robin draws for the World Seniors will run through to April 29 before the playoffs get underway. There are 25 senior men’s teams, split into three pools (one nine-team pool, two eight-team pools); 15 senior women’s teams, split into two pools (one eight-team pool, one seven-team pool). On April 30, the senior men’s and women’s gold-medal and bronze-medal games are scheduled for 7:30 a.m. Eastern. For live scores and standings from the World Seniors Championship, go to: wscc2014.curlingevents.com/.