Playoff spots set at Scotties Tournament of Hearts

SYDNEY, N.S. – With their one-day hiccup behind them, Chelsea Carey and Team Alberta put up another victory in the final draw of the Championship Pool on Friday to move into the Page playoff 1-2 game at the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Carey, third Sarah Wilkes, second Dana Ferguson, lead Rachel Brown and coach Dan Carey overcame an early 5-3 deficit to beat Casey Scheidegger and Team Wild Card (7-4, Lethbridge, Alta.) 9-8 in 11 ends. “They probably controlled the first half and we battled back,” said Carey, who finished the Championship Pool first overall with a 9-2 record. “We moved some rocks around and once we got those in the right places, we made a lot more shots…put some pressure on them and luckily enough we were able to pull it off.” The 2016 Scotties champions will play Robyn Silvernagle and Team Saskatchewan (8-3, North Battleford) after they knocked off 2017 Scotties champion Rachel Homan and Team Ontario (8-3, Ottawa) 6-3. “You just want to get into the Page somewhere, but the 1-2 is nice because it gives you the bonus, the extra chance, so we’ll take it,” said Carey. “Plus I’ve always gone 9-2 so I had to keep it rolling.” Carey has clinched her spot in the playoffs with the same record in all three of her previous appearances at the Scotties (2014, ’16 and ’17). Alberta shook off their two losses on Thursday to beat Saskatchewan 10-3 Friday afternoon, setting themselves up to finish first in the standings with a win in the final draw of the Championship Pool. “That’ll be a different game,” Silvernagle said of her rematch with Carey. Krista McCarville and Team Northern Ontario (8-3, Thunder Bay) earned their spot in the 3-4 game by scoring deuces in the fifth, sixth and ninth ends to sneak by Suzanne Birt of Team P.E.I. (6-5, Charlottetown) 7-6. McCarville will play Homan in the Page 3-4 game. In a game that meant nothing to the standings, defending champion Jennifer Jones and Team Canada (6-5, Winnipeg) beat Sarah Wark and Team B.C. (5-6, Abbotsford) 5-4. The victory, however, was significant because it was win number 141 for Jones, breaking the Scotties record for most career games won as a skip, previously held by Colleen Jones of Nova Scotia. Both teams had been eliminated by losses earlier in the day. The 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts continues SATURDAY with the Page 3-4 game at 2:30 p.m. and the Page 1-2 game at 7:30 p.m. (all times 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