 Tracy Fleury's furious comeback caps a perfect weekend to win Oakville. By Price Atkinson OAKVILLE, Ont. - The band is definitely back together, and Tracy Fleury's rink made that crystal clear to start their 2021-22 season today. The foursome out of East St. Paul, Manitoba rallied from three down twice in the game to defeat Suzanne Birt's rink 8-7 in the women's final of the Oakville Labour Day Classic on Monday afternoon at the Oakville Curling Club. Fleury, who missed the Scotties and one of the two Grand Slam of Curling events in the Calgary bubble this past spring, is back after opting out to care for her young daughter Nina. Her daughter was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy called infantile spasms last fall. "It felt great to have our skipper back," third Selena Njegovan said. "It was nice to start such an important season off strong and have the four of us back together again." With identical records, Birt and Fleury had to draw for hammer to start the game. Birt won the draw to the button and capitalized with an opening triple in the first end. The teams traded singles over the next two ends before Fleury's deuce in the fourth. Trailing 4-3 at the halfway point, Fleury picked up a key steal in the fifth to the game. The Prince Edward Island rink then responded with another three points in the sixth. However, Fleury's rink came right back with a triple of their own in the seventh to tie the game coming home. In the eighth, Fleury put the pressure on, opting to guard their shot stone in the top of the four foot. Birt attempted a draw around a high guard and in for shot and the win on her last stone. But it didn't curl enough, softly tapping their stone in the back of the four foot. "The first three (Birt scored in the first end) was given up early in the game and we knew we'd be able to claw our way back if we were able to put some strong ends together," Njegovan said. "The three in the sixth made it a bit more difficult, but Trace made a nice shot for three in seven." "We tried to put eight good shots together in eight to give us the best chance at the steal, and it worked out." The furious second-half comeback by Fleury, ranked in the top five on the World Curling Federation (WCF) World Team Rankings, capped a perfect weekend on the ice. The foursome finished tied atop the women's standings with a perfect 4-0 mark in the round-robin and then put together three clutch games in the playoffs, winning all three by a single point. Fleury knocked off Jamie Sinclair's rink 5-4 Sunday night in the quarterfinals. Then earlier today, in the semifinals, they were forced to an extra by Hollie Duncan. But the Fleury foursome put the pressure on in the extra-end to get past a tough Duncan rink and into the final. "This gives us a lot of confidence to move forward," Njegovan added. "We were really happy with our play this weekend and are looking forward to building on that throughout the season." RE-WATCH FINAL: |
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Matt Dunstone (Photo: Curling Canada) and his Winnipeg-based squad begin play at the CO-OP Tour Challenge in Nisku, Alta.
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