Manitoba’s Einarson ecstatic over first Scotties victory

To say Kerri Einarson was excited to win her first game at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts would be a huge understatement. The 28-year-old rehabilitation aide from Winnipeg had watched many a Scotties game at home but when she finally got her chance to play in one, she made the most of it, rolling to a convincing 10-2 win over Karla Thompson of British Columbia (Kamloops) in Saturday’s second draw at Revolution Place in Grande Prairie, Alta. “When I’m at home watching it, I’m thinking, oh I wish I could be there, it’s so cool,” Einarson said after guiding her team of third Selena Kaatz, second Liz Fyfe, lead Kristin MacCuish, alternate Briane Meilleur and coach Patti Wuthrich to the win. “But now to actually be here and bring it into real life it’s just an amazing feeling. When we got piped out, I got goosebumps throughout my entire body. First win, it feels awesome.” It was also a big end that powered Suzanne Birt of Prince Edward Island to a relatively easy 9-5 victory over Stacie Curtis of Newfoundland-Labrador (St. John’s). Birt and her Charlottetown team of third Robyn Green, second Meaghan Hughes, lead Marie Christianson, alternate Sinead Dolan and coach Danny Christianson stunned eastern rival Newfoundland-Labrador with six in the fourth end. “I don’t really know,” Birt said when asked how she got the six. “Just a few missed shots by the other team and (Curtis) hogged a rock. It was unfortunate but it was a well played end by our team. You don’t get (six) very often so we were happy for the extra points.” In the other evening game Krista McCarville of Northern Ontario (Thunder Bay) snuck by New Brunswick 6-3 when Moncton’s Sylvie Robichaud’s last-rock double takeout attempt was narrow. She got only one and left Northern Ontario a steal of one instead of New Brunswick scoring three for the win. After two draws, P.E.I., Manitoba, Northern Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Quebec have 1-0 records while the remaining six teams are 0-1. Einarson scored three in the second end then stole two in the sixth and four in the seventh on their way to the lopsided, eight-end win. They played so well it would be tough to believe there was any nerves among the Manitoba team because it was playing its first game while Thompson’s team, which got into the Scotties via the pre-qualifying tournament, was playing its fifth game. “I’m not going to lie, I was nervous because they had played four games already and I thought, oh they got their draw weight, but we came out and played really well. “We wanted to keep it clean for the first few. It didn’t really end up that way but we had a great second end so that set the tone for the game.” There are draws Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 and 6:30 p.m. (all times Mountain). For ticket and other event information, visit https://www.curling.ca/2016scotties/tickets/ For the complete schedule, go to https://www.curling.ca/2016scotties/draw-schedule/ This story will be posted in French as soon as possible at https://www.curling.ca/2015canadacup/?lang=fr TSN (RDS2 in French), the exclusive television network for Curling Canada’s Season of Champions, will provide complete coverage of the 2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.