P.E.I.’s Suzanne Birt rink cruises to win over Nunavut (with Islander Kaitlin MacDonald) in opener at Scotties Tournament of Hearts (SaltWire)

Posted on by January 29, 2022

(by Jason Simmonds) THUNDER BAY, Ont. — The Suzanne Birt rink is off to a winning start at the 2022 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

The P.E.I. representative opened play at the Canadian women’s curling championship with a 12-2 victory over Nunavut’s Brigitte MacPhail rink in eight ends on Jan. 28. 
Skip Suzanne Birt releases a shot during the Canadian Curling Trials Direct Entry competition in Ottawa earlier this season. Lead Michelle McQuaid, left, and second stone Meaghan Hughes handle the sweeping chores. The Birt rink, which includes third stone Marie Christianson and fifth player and coach Kathy O’Rourke, is representing P.E.I. at the 2022 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay, Ont., and won its first game 12-2 over Nunavut on Jan. 28. Claudette Bockstael/Curling Canada
Skip Suzanne Birt releases a shot during the Canadian Curling Trials Direct Entry competition in Ottawa earlier this season. Lead Michelle McQuaid, left, and second stone Meaghan Hughes handle the sweeping chores. The Birt rink, which includes third stone Marie Christianson and fifth player and coach Kathy O’Rourke, is representing P.E.I. at the 2022 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay, Ont., and won its first game 12-2 over Nunavut on Jan. 28. Claudette Bockstael/Curling Canada

Birt, third stone Marie Christianson, second stone Meaghan Hughes, lead Michelle McQuaid and fifth player and coach Kathy O’Rourke return to the ice at the Fort William Gardens on Jan. 29 against Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville in a clash of 1-0 (won-loss) teams at 8 p.m., Atlantic Time. Northern Ontario defeated Chelsea Carey’s wild-card entry 7-3 in the opening draw.

In control

Against Nunavut, the Birt rink, which curls out of Cornwall and Montague, built a 6-0 lead by the fifth-end break.

After Nunavut counted a deuce with the hammer in the sixth end, Birt scored three in the seventh and then stole three more in the eighth.

Christianson curled a game-high 92 per cent. As a team, P.E.I. completed the game at 89 per cent.

Click for full story at Saltwire Media: https://www.saltwire.com/prince-edward-island/sports/peis-suzanne-birt-rink-cruises-to-win-in-opener-at-scotties-tournament-of-hearts-100686497/

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