 Gimli's Kerri Einarson rink (Photo: Michael Burns/Curling Canada) had mixed results on the opening day of competition in Kelowna at the 2023 Pan Continental Curling Championships. By: Cameron Sallaj After a bronze medal performance a year ago in Calgary, Kerri Einarson and her four-time defending Canadian championship squad of Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Briane Harris are back at the Pan Continental Curling Championships looking for a gold medal in Kelowna, British Columbia. On the first day of competition Sunday, the team finished with an even record of 1-1 to sit in the middle of the pact. In Draw 1, the Einarson quartet, joined by alternate Dawn McEwen and coaches Viktor Kjell and Renee Sonnenberg soared to a 9-2 win over Chinese Taipei's Cynthia Lu in a game that only lasted seven ends. Starting without the hammer, Team Einarson stole a point in the opening end before Team Lu replied with one in the second. Canada then got one in the third before stealing two in the fourth and three more in the fifth, extending their lead to 7-1. Chinese Taipei drew to the four-foot for another single in the sixth before Canada ended the game early with two more points in the seventh, securing their first win of the competition. Despite the dominant victory, the Canadian team's percentages were particularly low compared to normal, curling just 68% as a team with Einarson at 75% being the game leader. Canada faced a tougher test in their second draw, matching up against Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa rink who were also victors in their opening game, 9-4 over New Zealand. A strong opening end by Canada allowed them to force Japan to a single point. They then scored two in the second end before forcing the Japanese again in the fourth end. Tied 2-2 in five, Einarson's final runback attempt did not make contact with her intended target, resulting in a steal of two for Fujisawa and a 4-2 deficit going into the second half. Team Einarson continued to fight into the sixth end. After Fujisawa wrecked on a guard with her final takeout attempt, Kerri Einarson was left with an open hit to count three points, which she made perfectly. The Japanese immediately responded with two, however, putting them back in front 6-5 after seven. The turning point in the game came in the eighth end. Facing two Japanese counters, Einarson needed a bite of the four-foot to get one and tie the score. Her draw pulled up short of the house, however, giving Japan a steal of two and a comfortable 8-5 lead with two ends left to play. The Canadians kept within striking distance in the ninth end, taking two to get within one of Japan. Einarson needed a perfect tap-back to keep the game alive in the tenth end, but her shot went long and left Fujisawa lying two, resulting in a 10-7 final in favor of the Japanese. After day one, Team Einarson sits tied for fourth place in the standings with Mexico's Adriana Camarena at 1-1. The United States', South Korea and Japan are all 2-0 while Australia, New Zealand and Chinese Taipei are all winless in two. The Canadian women's team plays one game Monday at 2:00 PM Pacific Time where they will face Australia's Jennifer Westhagen. In the lone men's draw of the day, Canada's Brad Gushue rink dropped an 8-5 decision to South Korea's Park Jong-duk. They will look to rebound Monday with two games against New Zealand's Anton Hood and the United States' Andrew Stopera. Select games from the Pan Continental Curling Championships are being streamed on TSN. The broadcast schedule can be found here: https://www.tsn.ca/curling/2023-24-curling-on-tsn-schedule-1.2009119. All games are being streamed on the Recast App which can be found here: https://the.recast.app/home SCORES, STANDINGS and STREAMING LINKS at www.CurlingZone.com. |
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Nova Scotia's Christina Black defeated Ontario's Danielle Inglis 6-5 to claim the Stu Sells 1824 Halifax Classic title.
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