 An improbable victory by Selena Sturmay stealing two to win 6-5 in the Final of the Sentinel Storage Alberta Scotties. Coming into the 10th end, Sturmay and her team of Danielle Schmiemann, Dezaray Hawes and Paige Papley were left with slim odds to win, though some well placed shots by the team in the final end, concluded by Sturmay final draw to lie two left them with a chance. All you want is a chance in these situations. And as Kayla Skrlik's last rock slid down the ice, the sweepers backing off, you could see the emotions switch from hope to jubiliation for the young team playing out of the Saville Centre in Edmonton.
Sturmay came into the game with a 35-21 record on the season, with Sunday's final being their 57th game so far on the season. The squad had risen to 22nd ranked in the world and 7th overall in Canada with a busy season including a last minute invitation to the Co-op Canadian Open in Red Deer a week ago. Sturmay started with hammer in the first end and had choice of rocks due to their 6-1 record that gave them a bye to the final. Sturmay blanked the first end, settling for a single point in the second end. The defending champions, skipped by Kayla Skrlik with Brittany Tran, Geri-Lynn Ramsay and Ashton Skrlik scored one in the third end, then stole a point in the fourth end to lead 2-1. Sturmay and Skrlik continued to trade singles through to the eigth end when Skrlik scored the first deuce of the game.
In the ninth end, Skrlik continued to apply the pressure, playing strong defense at the same time. Skrlik kept the end open, forcing a draw for her single, leaving her down without hammer into that fateful final end.
Skrlik advanced to the final with a 9-8 win in extra ends over Serena Gray-Withers of Edmonton in the semifinal. Gray-Withers with Catherine Clifford, Brianna Cullen and Zoey Cinnamon finished 2nd overall in the round-robin with a 5-2 record, were coming off a win last weekend at the CanadaWest University Championships. Skrlik finished 4-3 in the round-robin, tied with Jessie Hunkin of Spruce Grove and Nicky Kaufman of Edmonton. The three teams finished tied in head-to-head amongst the group, with Skrlik beating Kaufman, Kaufman winning over Hunkin and Hunkin winning over Skrlik. With this unable to break the tie, the next step was to use the pre-game draw to the button totals where Skrlik had the lowest cumulative distance. |
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World number three ranked Gyeonggi Province's Gim Eun-ji (Photo: Curling1spoon) defend their national title in a thrilling extra end final Monday in Uijeongbu.
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