(by Jody Jewers)

Two wins on final day of round-robin not enough for locals to reach playoffs

Faint hope turned to none for the host rink Thursday morning at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts at the Civic Centre.

Suzanne Birt’s foursome from the Charlottetown Curling Club of third Shelly Bradley, second Robyn MacPhee and lead Leslie MacDougall did their part to keep their razor-thin playoff chances alive with a 7-5 victory over five-time Canadian women’s curling champion Cathy Overton-Clapham of Manitoba.

But about a half-hour before Birt’s bunch wrapped up the win, the Ontario upstarts led by 21-year-old skip Rachel Homan knocked off Kerry Galusha’s Yukon-Northwest Territories entry 9-3 on the other side of the sheets to officially make the host team spectators for the final weekend.

A cruel bit of irony, as Homan was able to knock out Birt by beating a team Birt couldn’t, as the Territories shaded P.E.I. 7-6 in an extra end Wednesday night that put the hosts on life support entering the final day of round-robin competition.

Birt bested Stacie Devereaux of Newfoundland and Labrador 10-5 on Thursday night to salvage a winning record for the week, at 6-5.

Click for full story in today’s Guardian.