 South Korea's Gim Eun-ji (Photo: Alberta Curling Series) went undefeated to claim the first Curling Stadium Alberta Curling Series event. By: Cameron Sallaj In the women's final of the first Alberta Curling Series event of the season, Edmonton's Selena Sturmay rink went up against Uijeongbu, South Korea's Gim Eun-ji. Both teams entered the final with undefeated 4-0 records and as the top two ranked teams with Gim at #8 in the world and Sturmay at #24. By winning the last stone draw, Gim Eun-ji, backed up by Kim Min-ji, Kim Su-ji, Seol Ye-eun and Seol Ye-ji began the final with the hammer. A good draw by Gim on her first rock gave her the opportunity to draw into the four-foot on her second to score a deuce, however, she wrecked on a corner guard and only picked up one. The second end saw the Sturmay rink, which includes Selena Sturmay, Abby Marks, Kate Goodhelpsen and Paige Papley get into some trouble. However, when Gim Eun-ji came up light on her final draw, a triple takeout was available for the former Alberta Pandas rink to score two. Despite making the triple, Sturmay's shooter rolled out of the rings and she tied the score at one all. After a messy third end it was Gim Eun-ji that set up the skips deuce that allowed her team to jump ahead 3-1. On her first, she made a hit-and-roll to sit shot stone behind three guards. Selena Sturmay then went through the house on her last rock, allowing Gim a simple draw to pick up her two points. The lead was short-lived for the Korean side, however, as in the very next end it was the Sturmay team that would control the house. Already lying two, Selena Sturmay attempted a runback for a potential mittful but couldn't get the angle right, settling for just the deuce. At the break, the teams were tied at three all. In the fifth, momentum swung back into the Korean teams court when Gim Eun-ji made a tap-back on her first stone to leave her team sitting two points. Another mistake by Sturmay on her last left a soft-weight tap for Gim to count three and take full control of the women's final, which she made no mistake of. Any chance of a multiple score in the sixth end for Team Sturmay was killed when Gim Eun-ji made a double takeout on her first rock. This limited the former Pandas to just a single, leaving them down two and without the hammer in seven. The Korean team added a single point to their tally in that seventh end, extending their lead to 7-4. Then in the eighth, with no options to score three points, the Sturmay rink conceded the match, giving the Gim rink their first tour win of the 2022-23 season. The Uijeongbu based team began the event with a 6-5 win over Edmonton's Lindsay Bertsch. They then won 10-3 over St. Albert's Adele Purcell and again 6-4 over Waterloo's Isabelle Ladouceur to finish the round robin undefeated. In their short semifinal bout, they triumphed over Edmonton's Krysta Hilker 6-1 to reach the championship final. The team is coming off a runner-up finish at their national championship in June where they lost to Chuncheon's Ha Seung-youn for the chance to represent Korea at the Pan Continental Curling Championship in November. Aside from winning the event and the $2,000 winners purse, it was a weekend of celebrating for Team Gim as three of the five members had birthdays. Twins Seol Ye-eun and Seol Ye-ji had their birthday on Friday with Kim Su-ji blowing out her candles on Saturday. The Curling Stadium Alberta Curling Series began Team Gim's two month stretch in Canada. The team is registered to compete in the Curling Stadium Martesville Major next weekend, the Curling Stadium Alberta Curling Series Major and the Curling Stadium Western Showdown. They are also expected to appear at the first Grand Slam of the season, the Boost National, from October 4 to 9 in North Bay, Ontario. Despite not winning the event, Team Sturmay earn $1,300 for their runner-up finish which is still a good payday. In September, the Edmonton rink will compete at the PointsBet Invitational in Fredericton, New Brunswick where they will face Manitoba's Chelsea Carey in the opening round. Watch the replay of the women's final: |
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