Ontario, Northern Ontario advance to Scotties Championship Pool

SYDNEY, N.S. – Chelsea Carey kept cruising and Rachel Homan took an important step forward with Wednesday afternoon victories in Pool A’s final round-robin draw at the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Homan and Team Ontario (5-2, Ottawa) rebounded from a disappointing Tuesday loss to beat Sarah Wark and Team British Columbia (4-3, Abbotsford) 8-6 and secure a berth in the Championship Pool. After losing 5-3 to unbeaten Alberta on Tuesday, Homan, third Emma Miskew, Joanne Courtney and Cheryl Kreviazuk (who shared second stone)s, lead Lisa Weagle and coach Marcel Rocque needed to win to avoid dropping into a tiebreaker situation in Pool A. “It was really important,” said Miskew, pleased with how the team rebounded. “We felt we were throwing the rocks pretty well and things just weren’t quite working our way yesterday, and that happens in sports. So we just wanted to come out today and not grip the sticks too tight, throw our game and give ourselves a chance to win. “It was nice to get an early lead and then cruise to the end. We’re still trying to sharpen up in every way we can. We know the next two games are going to be tough.” In another key matchup, Krista McCarville of Northern Ontario (5-2, Thunder Bay) stole singles in the sixth and seventh ends and scored two in an extra end to get by Tracy Fleury of Manitoba (4-3, East St. Paul) 7-5. That sent Northern Ontario to the Championship Pool and Manitoba to a tiebreaker at 9:30 a.m. Thursday against British Columbia for the final available Championship Pool berth. Meanwhile, Carey and Team Alberta (7-0, Calgary) continued their cruise through the round-robin with a seventh straight victory, 12-3 over Gabrielle Lavoie of Quebec (0-7, Saint-Romuald) Carey had already secured her Championship Pool berth on Tuesday but with teams carrying their won-loss records forward, Wednesday’s victory was important. “Going into the championship round, every win in important because your record goes with you,” said Carey, the 2016 Scotties champion. “To go through the whole week, I certainly don’t expect (to be unbeaten), but you want to be in the 1-2 game if you can and we put ourselves in a good position for that. “You’d love to go undefeated (in the round-robin) but you hope you go sort of 6-1, 5-2 and give yourself a good chance in the championship round. So 7-0 is a bonus. In the other game in the afternoon draw Jill Brothers of Nova Scotia (2-5, Halifax) beat Jenine Bodner of Nunavut (1-6, Iqaluit) 11-1. The 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts continues with the final round-robin draw at 7:30 p.m. AST. Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/ TSN and RDS2 (streamed on ESPN3 in the United States) will provide complete coverage of the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule. For ticket information for the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, go to www.curling.ca/2019scotties/tickets/  This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2019scotties/category/nouvelles/?lang=fr