(by Al Cameron, Calgary Herald)
CHARLOTTETOWN — What an interesting evening of curling we just watched here tonight, with something interesting and eyebrow-raising on all four sheets — just what you want at the Scotties.
Let’s start with the Alberta game, and the biggest question that came out of it — what was Shannon Kleibrink thinking in the ninth end when she threw her last rock though the rings?
That decision allowed Newfoundland skip Stacie Devereaux to play a control-weight angle-slash to score two.
Talking with Kleibrink afterwards, there were two factors that led to the decision.
The first and foremost was the scoreboard: Alberta was up by four at the time, and the absolute worst that could have happened was Newfoundland scoring two — which it did — leaving Alberta two up with hammer playing the 10th end. That should be money in the bank (unless, of course, you are Joe Scharf playing in the Northern Ontario men’s final).
The other aspect of it, though, is that Kleibrink didn’t really believe the shot could be made by Devereaux.
“Honestly, I thought she had a 1-in-100 chance of making that shot,” said Kleibrink. “And it was a great shot.”
In retrospect, admitted Kleibrink, a long guard to take the run-in away might have been a better idea than a throw-through. Lesson learned.
By the way, there was an interesting incident in the 10th end of that game when an Amy Nixon peel attempt picked on a washer that had dropped off of Bronwen Webster’s broom. I’ve never heard of that happening before, and I suspect the Alberta brooms will be triple-checked on Tuesday.
Three sheets over, P.E.I.’s Suzanne Birt was in the midst of a love-in with the sellout crowd in the Civic Centre (and correct me if I’m wrong, but I’d go out on a limb to say that’s the first sellout for a Scotties game since the 1998 Hearts in Regina) as she and her team played their best game of the 2011 Hearts so far against Team Canada’s Jennifer Jones, eventually prevailing 8-6.
P.E.I. turned the game around with four in the seventh end and a steal of two in the eighth when Jones flashed on a double-takeout attempt.
Jones raised an eyebrow or two by electing not to throw her last rock in the 10th, but said afterwards she had absolutely no shot and elected to shake hands.
It should be noted that Jones’s eighth-end miss drew a roar from the crowd — not ideal, of course, but I’ll cut the fans here some slack. It’s been noticed here on the media bench that this might be the most partisan curling fans that we’ve seen at a national championship in recent memory, but it’s been just about entirely good-natured, so let’s call that eighth-end faux pas a bit of over-exuberance as opposed to anything nasty. The fans here have been terrific and there’s a real buzz in the building whenever P.E.I. is in action.