PEI’s Suzanne Birt rink lost their opener Thursday 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, but rebounded with a 7-2 win Mary Anne Arsenault team from Halifax Thursday evening. In the morning game, 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. In the evening draw, against the team that includes two-time world champion skip Colleen Jones at third, the Birt foursome, which includes Shelly Bradley, Sarah Fullerton, and Leslie MacDougall, led throughout the game, and sealed the win with a stolen deuce in the 6th end. The Birt squad now face Jill Thurston from Winnipeg at 930 Atlantic this morning.
The Jennifer Jones rink (without Jennifer Jones) from Winnipeg, and the Rachel Homan team from Ottawa are 3-0 in the Tier One event, while Kelly Scott from BC is 2-0.
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, but picked up a 7-1 win Thursday evening over Edmonton’s Valerie Sweeting, to improve to 1-2..
On the men’s side, the Brad Jacobs-skipped Team Eazy Express from Sault Ste. Marie are at 4-0, after wins over Jim Cotter, Mike McEwen, Brad Gushue, and Sweden’s Niklas Edin. The Gushue rink, which includes PEI-born Adam Casey and Brett Gallant, picked up wins over Edin, and Mark Keen of Toronto, but lost 6-3 to Mike McEwen Thursday evening, and sit at 2-2. Thomas Ulsrud of Norway is still unbeaten at 2-, but John Epping picked up his first loss last night, to Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard, to slip to 2-1. Glenn Howard, Jeff Stoughton, and Kevin Martin also have one loss.