Birt rink drops opener at Rogers Masters of Curling, Webster is 0-2, Gushue 2-1

PEI’s Suzanne Birt rink lost their opener this morning in the triple knockout “Tier Two” section at the Rogers Masters of Curling in Brantford Ontario by an 8-5 score to the Julie Hastings team from Thornhill Ont. Birt was leading 5-4 after six ends,  but Hastings scored a triple in the seventh and stole a final end single for the win.

Birt is now playing Halifax’s Mary Anne Arsenault rink, which includes two-time world champion skip Colleen Jones at third, in a game that just got underway.
The Jennifer Jones rink (without Jennifer Jones), along with the Rachel Homan and Eve Muirhead teams are 2-0 in the Tier One event.

The Crystal Webster rink, which includes PEI natives Erin Carmody and Geri-Lynn Ramsay, lost their opener 6-5 in an extra end to the Silvana Tirinzoni rink of Switzerland, and their second game 7-5 to Erika Brown and her Madison Wisconsin team.

On the men’s side,  the Brad Jacobs-skipped Team Eazy Express from Sault Ste. Marie are at 3-0, after wins over Jim Cotter, Mike McEwen, and Brad Gushue. The Gushue rink, which includes PEI-born Adam Casey and Brett Gallant, picked up wins over Niklas Edin of Sweden and Mark Keen of Toronto, and sit at 2-1. John Epping of Toronto and Thomas Ulsrud of Norway are at 2-0. Glenn Howard, Jeff Stoughton, and Kevin Martin all have one loss.