CRANBROOK, B.C. — Recent WFG Masters winner Allison Flaxey has kept the momentum running right through the Tour Challenge.
Flaxey finished the round-robin portion with an unblemished 4-0 record — extending her Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling winning streak to nine games — following a 4-3 victory over Michelle Englot’s Winnipeg-based team Friday afternoon.
Team Flaxey and Team Homan of Ottawa both posted perfect round-robin records, however, Flaxey finished with a better draw-to-the-button shootout score to take the top seed for Saturday’s quarterfinals.
The Caledon, Ont., team took the long road through the WFG Masters qualifying via the tiebreaker en route to their first career Grand Slam title and second Lynn Kreviazuk said it felt a lot better getting in through the front door this time.
“We came off of a really good win two weeks ago now so it really shows that we deserve to be here so it’s great,” she said. “We’re always battling and having great games against the best teams in the world.”
“It’ll be nice knowing we don’t have to deal with tiebreakers,” Kreviazuk added. “Although we put ourselves in that situation last time and we knew how to handle it but it’s nice being on the other side.”
Flaxey trailed 2-1 at halftime and took two for the lead in the fifth and then stole one to go up by two points. Englot could only get one in seven and Flaxey closed it out in the eighth with the hammer.
“Even though we were guaranteed moving on that game was really good for us to build our confidence a little bit,” Kreviazuk said. “We had a tough one the night before. We were trying to figure out the rocks and figure out the ice so we’re trying to take a breath and figure it out.”
Englot is still in contention with a 2-2 record.
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Meanwhile, Mark Nichols of St. John’s, N.L., closed out the round-robin with a 3-1 record defeating Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers 7-3.
Nichols, who normally plays third, is in charge for the seventh event to start the season with skip Brad Gushue nursing a hip injury. Adam Spencer is filling in at vice.
“It was a tough game,” Spencer said. “We got out to a big lead but we knew it wasn’t going to be safe for long because those guys are super aggressive and they know how to manufacture points. We got a little lucky there in the fifth, they could have scored three or four and we got lucky to steal. We just tried to keep it clean after that.”
Spencer has been part of a spare rotation filling in on the team and helped them capture the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard last month.
“It’s a little different. You don’t get any easy games out here. Everyone knows how to play,” Spencer said. “It’s the five-rock rule so there aren’t a lot of opportunities to just run a few ends if you get a lead. You basically have to stick to the offence and be comfortable with a lot of rocks in play.”
“Every event I play with them I feel a little bit more part of the team,” he added. “The main thing I’m trying to do is just contribute in a positive manner and try not to disrupt the chemistry too much.”
Carruthers has a 2-2 record.
Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud (2-2) stays in the chase with a 6-3 victory over Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. The Olympic gold medallist Jacobs (1-2) has one more round-robin game in the evening against reigning world champ Kevin Koe of Calgary (1-2) with the winner moving on and the loser going home.
Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher (1-2) is still in the mix picking up his first win by besting Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock 6-3. Laycock started the tournament with two wins but dropped a pair in a row to finish round-robin play at 2-2.
Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones is through at 3-1 beating Anna Hasselborg 9-8 in an extra end. Hasselborg is at 2-2 and awaits the finish of next draw.
NOTES: The Tour Challenge is the second of seven events on the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule. … Tour Challenge action continues Friday at 4:30 p.m. MT with TV coverage on Sportsnet and online/mobile on Sportsnet NOW. … The Tour Challenge runs through to Sunday at Western Financial Place (all Tier 1 games and Tier 2 finals) and Memorial Arena (Tier 2 games from round-robin play to semifinals).
