Scotland, Birchard win women’s tiebreakers at Home Hardware Road to the Roar (Curling Canada)

SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — Nadine Scotland and Shannon Birchard won playoff tiebreakers in the wee hours of Saturday morning at Credit Union Place to stay alive at the 2017 Home Hardware Road to the Roar Pre-Trials.

Team Birchard puts it on the rings to complete its extra-end 7-6 win over Team Kleibrink. 

Scotland’s Calgary team was a 9-5 winner over Halifax’s Theresa Breen, while Winnipeg’s Birchard needed an extra end to beat Shannon Kleibrink of Okotoks, Alta., 7-6.

Scotland and Birchard will go head to head on Saturday at 12:30 p.m., with the winner earning the third and final playoff spot from Pool A.

The tiebreaker rounds continue at 7:30 a.m. (all times Atlantic), with a pair of games. In women’s play, it’ll be Kerri Einarson (East St. Paul, Man.) up against Sherry Middaugh (Coldwater, Ont.), with the winner finishing third in Pool B. In men’s play, it’s Dayna Deruelle (Brampton, Ont.) against Winnipeg’s William Lyburn, with the winner moving on to a 3:30 game against Greg Balsdon of Kingston, Ont., to decide third place in Pool B. The third-place Pool A tiebreaker also goes Saturday at 7:30 a.m., featuring Halifax’s Jamie Murphy against Jason Gunnlaugson of Winnipeg.

The playoffs get underway with the first round of cross-over games at 1:30 p.m. In men’s play, Glenn Howard (Etobicoke, Ont.) plays Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton, while Charley Thomas of Edmonton is up against John Morris (Vernon, B.C.). The winners advance to Sunday’s 9 a.m. qualifying game for a berth into the 2017 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings.

In the women’s crossover games, Julie Tippin (Woodstock, Ont.) plays Briane Meilleur of Winnipeg, while Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay, Ont., takes on Kelsey Rocque of Edmonton. The winners advance to a Roar of the Rings qualifying game Saturday at 7 p.m.

The losers of the crossover games will drop to the B-side semifinals.

For the men’s and women’s playoff/tiebreaker draws, go to www.curling.ca/2017roadtotheroar/draw/

The Home Hardware Road to the Roar is the final qualifying event for teams to reach the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings, Dec. 2-10 in Ottawa, where Canada’s four-player curling teams for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, will be decided.

For ticket and other event information, visit www.curling.ca/2017roadtotheroar/

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2017 Home Hardware Road to the Roar are available at http://www.curling.ca/scoreboard/#!/

TSN (RDS2 in French), the exclusive television network for Curling Canada’s Season of Champions, will provide complete coverage of the 2017 Home Hardware Road to the Roar playoffs.

Click to read this story at Curling Canada.

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