[PEI recap: Women 1-1 after 8-6 win over NWT on Monday and 10-3 loss to BC on Tues.
Play Sask. at 10 am and Nunavut at 5 pm today. Men 0-3 following 8-3 loss to Ontario on Monday and 8-6 and 9-2 losses to Manitoba and NS, respectively, on Tues. Play the Yukon at 8:30 pm today.]
When Bart Sawyer looked at his British Columbia team’s schedule before the start of the 2017 Travelers Curling Club Championship he knew Tuesday was going to be a tough day at the office.
Team BC in action at the 2017 Travelers Curling Club Championships in Kingston, Ont. (Curling Canada/Donna McQuillan photo)
Watching the team from the Nanaimo Curling Centre knock off Saskatchewan and later Alberta on Tuesday, you would never know Sawyer and team have only curled together as a team for one year.
“We had a bit of nerves this morning but we managed two pretty good games,” Sawyer said after defeating Alberta’s John Mryglod and team 9-2 in seven ends.
The scoreboard indicated a dominant performance for the B.C. team but it wasn’t entirely smooth sailing during Draw 5. In the second end Sawyer was facing a pile of Alberta granite before the skip executed two long double takeouts to generate a 2-0 lead.
“In the third end we felt more in control but (Mryglod) stayed in there with some great long shots in the third and fifth ends,” Sawyer added.
Sawyer, third Steve Waatainen, second Craig Burton and lead Keith Clarke have their sights set on the playoffs at their first national curling championship but Sawyer admits it’s still one game at a time. Seven family and fans have joined the team making the trip from Vancouver Island for the six-day event at the Cataraqui Golf and Country Club in Kingston, Ont.
After getting Monday off and playing two games on Tuesday, B.C. still has to get through the next four games of a six-game round robin in Pool A of the men’s event before thinking about the playoff picture.
Alberta drops to 2-1 at the Travelers Curling Club Championship. Newfoundland and Labrador (2-1) got back into the win column with a 6-5 win over Saskatchewan (1-2). Quebec (1-1) won their first game of the championship 11-3 over Nunavut (0-3).
(Curling Canada/Donna McQuillan photo)
In men’s Pool B action, the leaderboard is topped by Nova Scotia (3-0) and Ontario (2-0) followed by Northern Ontario (2-1), Manitoba (1-1), Yukon (1-1) and Prince Edward Island (0-3) and Northwest Territories (0-3).
The top three teams from each of the two pools will make playoffs on Friday. The top ranked team from each pool will get a direct entry to the semi-final, while the second and third place teams will meet in crossover quarterfinals. Gold medal and bronze medal games will take place Saturday morning at the Cataraqui Golf and Country Club.
New Brunswick’s Heather Munn (1-1) handed Manitoba’s Stacey Fordyce (2-1) her first loss of the round robin on Tuesday night. Elsewhere in women’s Pool A play, host Ontario (2-0) hung on to defeat Newfoundland and Labrador (1-1) by a score of 6-5 by drawing for two points in the eighth end.
British Columbia (3-0) and Alberta (2-0) women remain undefeated in women’s Pool B action. Quebec (1-1) picked up their first win of the event thanks to a 10-3 win over Yukon (0-3).
Full standings from the event are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard.
Selected games from the 2017 Travelers Curling Club Championship are live-streamed at www.curling.ca/2017travelers/.
For draw times, team lineups and other event info, go to: www.curling.ca/2017travelers/.
Selected games from the 2017 Travelers Curling Club Championship are live-streamed at www.curling.ca/2017travelers/