(CCA) Wednesday morning at the Civic Centre in Charlottetown started off with two trends which continue moving in the same direction. Amber Holland’s stealthy Saskatchewan squad continued to look unbeatable, running their record to a tidy 8-0 with a seven-end 10-2 win over Stacie Devereaux’s Newfoundland/Labrador crew.
And Canada’s Jennifer Jones continued to build momentum — something her team has done consistently at past Scotties. She caught up to second-place Ontario at 6-2, beating Rachel Homan’s Ottawa foursome 7-4.
Amber Holland of Team Saskatchewan at the 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts
(Photo by: Andrew Klaver)
For Jones, who will take to the sheet tonight in the most-ballyhooed scheduled contest of the week —– squaring off against her long time third Cathy Overton-Clapham of Manitoba – getting back to even with the young guns from Ontario was key as the team continues to maintain a roll.
“I thought we made some good shots. We do want to get better as the week goes on — that’s a good trend to have,” said Jones, who’s team is used to slow starts before picking up speed heading toward the weekend.
“I think it would have been a good game for TV – lots of rocks in play, lots of good shots – we had to keep up with them, so it was a big win for us,” said Jones of the Homan team, one she called “the next generation of curling.”
Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink and B.C.’s Kelly Scott also registered key victories.
Kleibrink’s Calgary crew beat Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche 9-4, while Scott battled the hometown favourites and some very loud conditions to beat Suzanne Birt’s P.E.I. champs 4-3, evening both losing sides’ records at 4-4.