Alberta Dodges Bullet to Stay Perfect
REGINA -- Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink needed to stage a comeback Monday afternoon to preserve her undefeated record here at the 2008 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Trailing Nova Scotia’s Mary-Anne Arsenault 5-2, Kleibrink got a deuce in the sixth end and took the lead for good in the seventh end with a steal of three. Nova Scotia battled back to make it a one-point game in the tenth end, but Kleibrink made an open hit with the final rock of the game to nail down a 9-7 victory.
The win improved Alberta’s record to 4-0, while Nova Scotia fell to 3-2.
Kleibrink said afterward that the win was in keeping with a team that seems to need a few ends to get into the game. “It’s a known fact our first half is a little dicey,” Kleibrink said.
Kleibrink scoffed at the notion her team might go undefeated through this entire event. “There’s no chance,” she laughed. “You know your loss will come somewhere.”
In other games Monday afternoon, Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones snapped a two-game losing streak with an 8-2 win over Kerry Galusha of Northwest Territories/Yukon.
Jones scored one with the hammer in the first end and then rattled off steals in the next four ends to head to the fifth end break up 7-0. The win improved Manitoba’s record to 3-2, while Galusha remains the only winless team in the field at 0-4.
The Manitoba victory came after they had been roundly defeated Monday morning, falling 11-4 to Ontario’s Sherry Middaugh.
“We had a tough loss this (morning),” said Manitoba third Cathy Overton-Clapham. “And we weren’t as sharp as we would have liked to have been and the ice was a lot straighter than we had been used to, so it was nice to come back with a win.”
In the only other games Monday afternoon, BC’s Allison MacInnes defeated New Brunswick’s Sylvie Robichaud 13-6 and Newfoundland's Heather Strong stole the 10th and 11th ends to beat PEI's Suzanne Gaudet 9-8.
Earlier Monday, Canada’s record fell to 1-3 with a 7-5 loss to Nova Scotia.
Canada’s Kelly Scott and Nova Scotia’s Mary-Anne Arsenault were tied 1-1 in the fourth end when Nova Scotia stole four to go up 5-1. Arsenault stole one more the next end to go up 6-1 heading into the fifth end break.
Canada battled back, however, scoring a deuce in the eighth end and then stealing two more in the ninth end to head home in the tenth down 6-5.
Facing two Canada counters on the four-foot, Arsenault drew the button with the last rock of the end to preserve a 7-5 victory.
Canada returns to the ice Monday evening, taking on Alberta. In other games on the Monday evening draw, NWT/Yukon plays Ontario’s Middaugh, Newfoundland and Labrador plays Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche and BC plays Saskatchewan’s Michelle Englot.
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