New Glasgow NS-The 2008 Sobeys Slam Final was a game of missed of opportunities on the part of Stephanie Lawton, and strong offense by Marie France Larouche. Put those two factors together, and the net result is a 7-3 final score in favor of the rink from Quebec. For Larouche, it was a second straight trip to the finals, after falling to Sherry Middaugh 6-4 in the 2007 final.

The tone was set early, as Stephanie Lawton had an excellent opportunity for 3 points in the first end, but a draw crashed on some rocks out front, and instead settled for a single point. After a blank in end two, Larouche had an open draw for 3, resulting from a misplayed draw by Lawton with her last. Larouche forced Lawton to take 1 in the fourth, then Larouche bounced right back with another 3 in the fifth.

At that point the score was 6-2, and the Quebec rink basically ran the game out, trading singles in six and seven, then running Lawton out of rocks in the eighth.

Larouche says she is very happy with the way her team played. “For the game, all the girls were so strong. There are 32 of the best teams maybe in the world (here), so we know we need to play well to win the game.”

When asked about coming to the Slam again next year, Larouche promised “we will be back.”

The two semi-final games earlier on Sunday were not for the feint of heart. In both cases, the team with hammer in the eighth had a one-point lead. In both cases steals of one sent the games to extra ends, and in both games, the final shot of the extra end was a nail-biter before the winner was determined. Stephanie Lawton needed a draw to the button for a 5-4 win over Cathy King, and was able to make it, while Marie France Larouche needed a hit on a rock partially behind cover for her 7-5 win over Sherry Middaugh.