NORTH BATTLEFORD, Sask. — John Morris and his Vernon, B.C., team capitalized late to take a 6-3 set over Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers at the Meridian Canadian Open.
Morris (2-1) picked up his second win of the day — after crushing American Heath McCormick 9-3 earlier Thursday — to reach the B-qualifiers of the triple knockout preliminary round.
Team Morris will take on reigning world champions Team Koe for a playoff spot Friday.
“We’re hanging in the B-side there,” Team Morris fourth Jim Cotter said. “Two really good wins today. We needed that. Obviously lost our first one so it’s good to bounce back today with a couple wins.”
It was a cat-and-mouse chase with the teams alternating singles back-and-forth through the first six ends as neither side was willing to crack first. All tied at 3-3, Morris finally capitalized in the seventh when Carruthers crashed on a guard with his first skip stone, allowing Cotter to split the rings and then bang out two counters with his last to score three.
“Sometimes the rinks just get shut down a little bit,” Cotter said. “We had a couple opportunities, they were tough shots at the same time, we missed a few of them but I felt really good today. The guys were really great in front of me and we were fortunate to pull out the win there.”
Morris ran Carruthers out of rocks in the eighth. The recent Canada Cup winner Carruthers (1-2) drops to the C-side and is in must-win mode in order to qualify.
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Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., is also hanging on in the B group with a 5-4 win over Greg Balsdon of Kingston, Ont.
Gushue (2-1) had a hit for three in the fourth, but took out one of his own on the way for just a deuce. However, the six-time Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title winner stole a point in five to get into the lead 4-3.
Balsdon, who won the Tour Challenge Tier 2 for a spot in this event, blanked six but settled for a single in seven that tied it 4-4 but gave up the hammer coming home. Gushue made a clutch angle-raise with his last in eight to hit and roll out alongside Balsdon’s lone stone in the house and his biter at the back of the 12-foot circle remained untouched to count for the winning point.
Gushue is off to the B-qualifiers and plays Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen, who edged Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher 8-7 in an extra end.
Meanwhile in the C-side, Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock is still in the mix trumping McCormick 9-1. Laycock (1-2) has to win two more games consecutively to advance to the playoffs while McCormick (0-3) is out.
In women’s division action, Tracy Fleury of Sudbury, Ont., is still in it to win it after an 8-2 rout over Chelsea Carey of Calgary to eliminate the reigning Canadian champion in the first round of the C-side.
“We have a few sudden-death games ahead of us against great teams,” said Fleury, who improved to a 1-2 record. “It’s such a strong field so we have to play our best every game. We feel good about our game after this past one.”
Fleury opened with a deuce and rolled away with a steal of one in the second, three in the third and swiped another in four to lead by six as Carey struggled with risky shots while attempting to get back in it. Carey broke the shutout getting two in the fifth, but Fleury put another point on the scoreboard in six and that was all.
“The first couple games we just struggled a bit with execution,” Fleury said. “I think today we just came out stronger and made more shots.”
NOTES: The Meridian Canadian Open is the fourth event and third major of the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. … Winners of the Meridian Canadian Open earn spots for the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup taking place at the end of April in Calgary. … Action resumes Friday at 8 a.m. CT with television coverage starting at 11:30 a.m. CT on Sportsnet.
