(Saskatoon) Undefeated captains Brad Gushue and Tracy Fleury picked up victories Wednesday at the SaskTel Center to move closer to playoff spots.
At the other end of the table are reigning men’s national champion Brendan Bottcher and reigning Trials champion Rachel Homan. They are trying to hang on to low hopes of playing this weekend after hitting the dreaded four-game losing mark.
“In a one-day game, the pressure builds and you start to feel it,” said Homan coach Marcel Rocque. “Maybe she’s hanging on a little too tight. ”
Gushue remained undefeated with a 5-0 record after winning 9-4 over Matt Dunstone at the SaskTel Center.
Bottcher saw his performance slip to 1-4, being defeated 9-7 by Kevin Koe.
A colon in the first end quickly gave Gushue control of the game; he put the game out of reach with three runs in the eighth end.
“We’re playing well, but we weren’t great,” Gushue said. We were lucky, but still got some good shots ”.
Brad Jacobs beat Jason Gunnlaugson 7-5 and Mike McEwen edged Tanner Horgan 6-5.
Jacobs was alone in second place with a 4-1 record followed by McEwen and Koe who each have three wins and one loss.
John Epping is in fifth place with two wins and two losses.
Gunnlaugson and Horgan only have a four-game win and Dunstone don’t have a five-game win.
The top three teams at the end of the round robin on Friday night will advance to the weekend playoff games.
Five women’s teams, including that of defending champion Rachel Homan, started the day with three losses apiece.
In the afternoon, Homan – who missed the podium at the PyeongChang Games in 2018 – lost 11-5 to Laura Walker, which left her clinging to low hopes for the playoffs with just one victory in five parts.
“You can’t win every game and there are a lot of good teams here,” Homan said.
Kate Cameron was cleared to play after testing negative for COVID-19, Curling Canada said in an email.
Cameron missed Monday’s game due to an unspecified illness and the team was absent on Tuesday.
Tracy Fleury, the only undefeated female captain at 5-0, beat Jacqueline Harrison 9-6.
“It’s good for us to be able to pull off a close game, just to feel a little nervous and get a win,” said Fleury. “It just gives us a little confidence. ”
Jennifer Jones beat Kelsey Rocque 8-5 and Krista McCarville took a 6-5 victory over Kerri Einarson.
Jones was alone in second at 5-1 and McCarville and Einarson were tied for third at 3-3. Casey Scheidegger, Walker and Harrison are 2-3.
Rocque (1-4) joined Homan in last place.
The tiebreakers and semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday. The winners of Sunday’s finals will represent Canada at the Beijing Olympics from February 4-20.
Koe also missed the podium at the 2018 Games. Canadians John Morris and Kaitlyn Lawes won gold in mixed doubles, a discipline that made its Olympic debut in PyeongChang.