Team Manitoba skip Jennifer Jones, left, and alternate Raunora Westcott celebrates defeating Team Prince Edward Island at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Calgary, Alta., on Feb. 24, 2021.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Beth Peterson of Team Wild Card Three defeated Kerry Galusha of the Northwest Territories 9-8 on Thursday to secure a berth in the championship pool at the Canadian women’s curling championship.
Peterson, who stole singles in the last two ends, improved to 5-3 with the extra-end victory to make the four-team cut in Pool A. Galusha (4-4) was eliminated with the loss.
Alberta’s Laura Walker (5-3) also qualified with an 11-1 victory over Yukon’s Laura Eby.
Ontario’s Rachel Homan beat Canada’s Kerri Einarson 7-4 in a rematch of last year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts final. Both teams, who had already secured championship pool spots, moved to 7-1.
Team Wild Card Two’s Mackenzie Zacharias (3-5) posted a 9-4 win over Northern Ontario’s Krysta Burns (2-6) in the other Pool A afternoon game.
The Pool B picture remained up in the air entering the evening draw at Markin MacPhail Centre.
Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones and Saskatchewan’s Sherry Anderson picked up victories in the morning draw to create a three-team logjam at 5-2. Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges, who was idle, was also in first place.
Chelsea Carey, skipping Team Wild Card One as a substitute for Tracy Fleury, thumped Newfoundland and Labrador’s Sarah Hill 11-2 to finish the preliminary round at 5-3.
Jones, seeking a record seventh Scotties title, downed New Brunswick’s Melissa Adams 12-3. Anderson needed a point in the final end for an 8-7 win over British Columbia’s Corryn Brown (3-4).
Prince Edward Island’s Suzanne Birt improved to 4-3 with a come-from-behind 10-8 win over Nunavut’s Lori Eddy.
Nova Scotia’s Jill Brothers missed the cut in Pool A at 3-5 while Eby was winless at 0-8. In Pool B, Adams took a 3-4 record into the late draw. Hill had a 2-5 mark while Eddy was 0-7.
If a tiebreaker is needed to determine who will make the four-team cut in Pool B, it will be played Friday morning.
Records will carry over into the two-day championship round. Each team will play four games against teams that qualified from the other preliminary round pool.
The top three teams will advance to Sunday’s playoffs. The top seed goes straight to the evening final and the second- and third-place teams will meet in an afternoon semi-final.
The Hearts winner will get a berth in the Tim Hortons Curling Trials and earn $100,000 of the $300,000 total purse. The champion will also return to the 2022 Scotties as Team Canada.
If the women’s world championship is rescheduled for this season, the Hearts winner will represent Canada.
The March 5-14 Tim Hortons Brier will be the next event to be held in the spectator-free bubble. The Canada Olympic Park venue will play host to six bonspiels in all through late April.