The last day of round-robin play at the Scotties Tournament Of Hearts in Charlottetown was a bounce-back opportunity for two early leaders and a Maritime team to stay rolling.
Amber Holland at the 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts (Photo by: Andrew Klaver) Saskatchewan’s Amber Holland ran her record to 9-1 with a last-shot 7-6 win over Andrea Kelly’s New Brunswick crew which guaranteed her a spot in the Page One-Two playoff game Friday night.
Ontario’s Rachel Homan came back from two losses Wednesday to take care of business against Kerry Galusha’s Territories team 9-3, guaranteeing Ontario at least a playoff tiebreaker with a 7-3 mark.
And Nova Scotia’s Heather Smith-Dacey won her third in a row, a nailbiter on both the scoreboard and the time clock. The Mayflower skip made a double for a deuce in the 10th end against Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink to win 8-7 and go to 7-3. The Alberta crew drops to 6-4 with a match against defending champion Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg remaining on their schedule tonight at 7:30 (AT).
In a game that meant little to the standings but much to the Civic Centre crowd, P.E.I.’s Suzanne Birt posted an 8-5 win over P.E.I. Part 2, otherwise known as Cathy Overton-Clapham’s Manitoba squad. Both teams have been eliminated from weekend play, but the place was still abuzz after Wednesday night’s tilt between Overton-Clapham and her old boss Jennifer Jones of Team Canada – a game won 8-6 by Manitoba.
“I’m just tired I think, emotionally drained,” said Overton-Clapham after the loss, leaving her team at 3-7.
“I just wasn’t feeling it out there today.”
“We came here to win and that’s not happening but we want to go out tonight and win (against NL),” she said.
The aftermath of the big game against Jones was evident in the skip’s tired eyes.
She and her teammates were buoyed by the outpouring of emotion from fans in the building, across the country and even across the pond, thanks to social networking.
“It’s been really overwhelming – we’ve received lots and lots of e-mails and I haven’t gone through all the text messages yet,” said Overton Clapham, adding she even received congratulatory messages from curlers in Europe.
“The best thing is, the fans and our peers, that was really exciting that everyone was so excited for us.”