Crystal Webster rink, with PEI’s Erin Carmody & Geri-Lynn Ramsay advances to Alberta Scotties semi (Calgary Herald)

LEDUC — I would like to meet the person who predicted that Jesse Kaufman would be riding a 10-game win streak into Sunday’s afternoon’s championship final at the Scotties Alberta women’s curling championship.

The truth is, I’m not sure that person exists. Not that Kaufman isn’t a capable skip — she proved last season that she can play with the top teams in the country on the World Curling Tour. It’s just that the field for this year’s Scotties was so deep that she tended to be an afterthought in a lot of minds (yes, mine included) when it came to picking the favourites.

And yet, there she is, having knocked off Heather Nedohin 6-3 earlier tonight in the Page playoff A-B game and getting to sleep in Sunday morning in advance of the 2 p.m. final against either Crystal Webster of Calgary or Nedohin.

Kaufman has simply been the soundest skip in the field this week. She’s not calling a high-risk game, by any stretch of the imagination. She’s just making more shots than anyone, and taking advantage of opponents’ misses better than anyone.

In the other Page playoff game, Crystal Webster — the last surviving Calgary team, and the highest seed left in the field at No. 3 — grinded out a 5-4 win over Val Sweeting. It wasn’t a particularly well-curled game, but Webster was in control most of the way, and showed that her command of draw weight might be the best of the three remaining skips. She has been superb in clutch situations in the late stages of this event, and you get a sense that her team, rounded out by Erin Carmody, Geri-Lynn Ramsay and Sam Preston, has some momentum going into Sunday morning’s semifinal against Nedohin.