 Gimli's Kerri Einarson will play Calgary's Kayla Skrlik for a spot in Saturday's Page 1v2 game. Einarson, with Val Sweeting, Karlee Burgess and Krysten Karwacki, didn't make it look easy this week. As is custom for this team. The only constant for Einarson this season has been change, as an early season injury to second Shannon Birchard created a revolving door at the second position. All of this was thrown on top of the loop that Briane Harris' positive drug test tossed the team a year ago, which saw Karwacki take over the lead position. Harris was later exonerated, as she was found not liable for ingesting the banned substance, Ligandrol. Even so, this absence left Einarson with a new player at lead and a revolving door at second that saw a number of players replacing Birchard. While things were unsettled for Einarson for much of the season, they entered play on Saturday with a 32-19 record on the season, winning the HearingLife Tour Challenge and the Saville Grand Prix events. Einarson also reached the semifinals of the KIOTI National in St. John's and made three quarterfinals - the Saville Shootout in Edmonton, the Co-op Canadian Open in Nisku and the WFG Masters last month in Guelph. Their results on the season were good enough to rank #6 on the World Curling rankings and second overall in Canada. After Birchard's failed attempt to return in December at the RBC Dominion Western Showdown, Einarson added Burgess to the lineup for the remainder of the season. With one Grand Slam event together as a team, Einarson was still in learning mode for much of the week in Thunder Bay. The results were wild for Einarson, starting with two wins and then losing two games after that. From there, Einarson overcame poor starts against Winnipeg's Kate Cameron and Halifax's Christina Black with strong finishes. In one final comeback, Einarson took down another contender in Ottawa's Danielle Inglis. Einarson finished with a win over Winnipeg's Kaitlyn Lawes in their final game on Thursday to win four straight and take the top spot in Pool B. Now, Einarson faces Team Alberta and Skrlik and her team of Margot Flemming, Ashton Skrlik and Geri-Lynn Ramsay, arguably Canada's breakout women's team on the Tour circuit this season. Skrlik climbed to 12th overall on the World Curling rankings and third overall in Canada, posting a 57-22 record on the season. Skrlik won three times, taking the Curling Alberta Women's Championship to advance to the Scotties, along with winning the Curling Stadium Martensville International and the Ladies Alberta Open in Okotoks. Skrlik also reached the final at the Icebreaker Challenge in Morris, the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard and the PointsBet Invitational in Calgary. A semifinal appearance at the AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic and three quarterfinal finishes - Curlers Corner Autumn Gold in Calgary, the Red Deer Curling Classic, and the RBC Dominion Western Showdown in Swift Current saw the team qualify in 8 of the ten events played this season. The matchup on Friday, playing at 1 pm Eastern Time (ET), still heavily plays in favour of Einarson, who holds a 5-0 career record against Skrlik, including a 10-1 win at the WFG Masters. |
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Manitoba's Matt Dunstone (Photo: Grand Slam of Curling) defeated Norway's Magnus Ramsfjell 6-3 to move to a 2-0 record at the AMJ Masters in London, Ontario.
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