Amber Holland (Photo: Andrew Klaver Photography)
For the third straight outing, Amber Holland’s Green curling machine from Saskatchewan was living dangerously.
Which is to say, it had grabbed a half-time lead in a key match at the Scotties Tournament Of Hearts at the Civic Centre.
Did deja-vu cross the minds of the Saskatchewan troops?
“Yuh think?” skip Holland responded.
This time it was the sudden-death semi-final leading to tonight’s championship match and opportunity for redemption against defending champion Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg.
Jones erased a 5-2 Page One-Two playoff-game deficit on Friday night to qualify for the final at Holland’s expense. The night before, Holland had blown a sizeable advantage in the last round of the preliminaries to B.C.’s Kelly Scott.
This time, Holland constructed the 5-2 lead in five ends against Ontario’s youthful Rachel Homan. But, Saskatchewan gritted in and posted a 7-5 decision.
“We just had to focus on the shots, not to watch the scoreboard,” said Holland. “We had to make sure we were playing like we had an one-point lead, not a three-point lead.”
Hmm. It wasn’t long before the Saskatchewan lead was reduced to one point. But that’s where Holland and crew persevered.
Team Saskatchewan (Photo: Andrew Klaver Photography)
“I think we lost a little focus probably,” Holland said of Friday’s turnaround, “and this time we were determined not to let that happen.
“I’ll still take that lead, though. I’ll still take it. The first five ends were exactly how we wanted to play them. Now some key shots have to be made at the back end. If we can play 10 like we played five on Friday, that’s the game plan we want to follow.
“Of course the last five will be more difficult,” Holland added. “That just means we have to be sharper and our placement has to be better and we have to make sure we’re not giving them any opportunities to put the pressure on us.”
Saturday night’s was more of a run-and-gun affair as opposed to the high-scoring joust of the night previous. Saskatchewan assumed control in the fourth end with the steal of two when Homan missed an angle runback kill on two Saskatchewan stones in the four-foot.
Saskatchewan withstood a barrage of up-weight shooting from Homan most of the rest of the way and accepted another break from the 21-year-old Ottawa skip in the ninth end when she hit and rolled out her last rock leaving an open draw for a Saskatchewan deuce and a 7-4 advantage.
“We weren’t quite good enough,” said Homan. “They were the better team. They deserved it.
“Now we get to play for ugly gold rings (the prize for winning today’s bronze-medal rematch with Nova Scotia at 2:30 p.m.).
Homan said her team was happy with its lot, an acceptable performance for a rookie team at the Scotties.
“I want to win that last game and then think about trying to get back here next year,” she said.