The impressive season for Anna Hasselborg on the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling circuit continued Friday at the Meridian Canadian Open.
Her Swedish rink, which includes third Sara McManus, second Agnes Knochenhauer and lead Sofia Mabergs, reached the playoffs for the third time this season after a narrow 4-2 win over Winnipeg’s Michelle Englot in a ‘B’ final at the North Battleford Civic Centre.
“It feels so amazing to be able to do that,” Hasselborg said. “You always have to be on the top of your game at these events.
“We lost a tiebreaker at the last slam (the Boost National in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) and it’s always tough to go out in that fashion. We felt like we played well at the event and we’ve been able to step up our performances here this week.”
Both teams traded single points throughout the game, but it was a steal of one in the fifth end by Hasselborg that proved to be the difference maker.
“Michelle’s a really good draw player so you kind of expect to be trading singles back and forth against her,” Hasselborg said.
“That steal was pretty big as it turned out and it was great to have the hammer in the last end. Since I missed a hit on my first shot, I had to pull one out of my pocket on my last draw to get the win.”
Allison Flaxey’s rink also advanced to the playoff round after a 7-3 win in her ‘B’ final game against Kelsey Rocque.
Over in the ‘C’ event, there was a pair of dramatic finishes.
Facing four Kerri Einarson stones on her last shot of the game, Casey Scheidegger made a brilliant draw to the button as she kept her playoff hopes alive with a 7-4 victory.
“It was a little bit nerve wracking there,” Scheidegger said. “I was hoping to cut them down to at least one point and maybe go to an extra end, but I had some great sweeping from my sweepers (Jessie Scheidegger and Stephanie Enright) to make the shot.”
“Our goal here is to qualify for the playoffs. That would be a great accomplishment for our teams, especially as we get ready for our provincials.”
Sudbury’s Tracy Fleury bailed her team out in the eighth end as she made a runback double takeout on her final shot as she defeated Bingyu Wang of China by a score of 5-4.
The other ‘C’ event contest saw an impressive performance from Ottawa’s Rachel Homan.
In a game where she never had the hammer, Homan and her rink got all their points via steals as they shutout Brianne Meilleur 6-0.
The final three playoff spots on the men’s side will be decided tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the ‘C’ finals.
Both Saskatoon-based rinks will be action as Steve Laycock will square off with Charley Thomas, while Bruce Korte will take on Mike McEwen.
The other ‘C’ final will be a battle of Alberta rinks as Brendan Bottcher will battle Kevin Koe.
