KAMLOOPS, February 29….Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton and Brad Gushue of St. John’s locked up first place in their respective pools with wins Friday afternoon at the Strauss Canada Cup, joining Cheryl Bernard and Kevin Koe as Section winners.

Lawton defeated Calgary’s Shannon Kleibrink, 8-6 by stealing one in the 10th end, as her team finished the round robin with a 4-1 mark in Section B.  

With the loss, Kleibrink dropped to 3-2, and must now hope that Kelowna’s Kelly Scott loses to Kristie Moore in tonight’s final draw, in order to force a tiebreaker.   If Scott wins, she’d also be 4-1, but since Lawton beat her in the round robin, Lawton still claims top spot.

In other women’s Draw 10 action, Calgary’s Cheryl Bernard remained unbeaten at 5-0, defeating Heather Rankin, 9-6. As the A winner, she’ll now meet Lawton Saturday morning in the Page 1 vs 1 game, with the winner advancing to the final on Sunday, the loser to the semi-final on Saturday night.

In the other women’s game, Sherry Anderson of Saskatoon stayed alive with a 7-6 extra end victory over Janet Harvey.   Anderson is now 3-2, but needs last year’s Cup winner and reigning Canadian women’s champion, Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg, who is currently 3-1, to lose tonight to Cathy King to force a tiebreaker with Jones. 

Meanwhile, Gushue knocked off the previously-undefeated Glenn Howard, 6-5, stealing one in the 10th end when Howard’s open draw to the four-foot was a tad heavy.   

The victory allowed Gushue to claim top spot in Section B, as he and Howard both finished with 4-1 records.  He’ll now meet Edmonton’s Kevin Koe, the A winner, Saturday morning in the Page 1 vs 1 game.   The winner also advances to the final on Sunday, while the loser goes to Saturday evening’s semi-final.  

Coldwater’s Howard now advances to the crossover Page 2 vs 2  game Saturday afternoon.  The win by Gushue also eliminated three-time Cup winner Randy Ferbey, currently at 2-2, who plays Pat Simmons tonight.

The other men’s game saw Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen hand Koe his first loss, 7-6.  The win kept McEwen’s tiebreaker hopes alive.  He needs Simmons to lose to Ferbey and Kevin Martin to beat Jeff Stoughton.  That would force two breakers among McEwen, Martin, Simmons and Stoughton, who would all finish at 2-3 in Section A.

The final draw of the round robin is at 6:00 pm PT.

CBC-TV will televise the 1 vs 1 Page Playoff games on Saturday, March 1 at 8:30 am PT/11:30 am ET and the women’s and men’s finals on Sunday, March 2, beginning at 9:00 am PT/12 Noon ET, in a special five-hour telecast.   CurlTV (www.curltv.com) is also providing event coverage to its subscribers.

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