YORKTON, Sask. — Scotland’s Eve Muirhead stole points in four ends to brush aside Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones 8-2 and qualify for the playoffs at the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling Canadian Open Friday.
“We played really well and got off to a really strong start and that was what we wanted to do,” Muirhead said. “We put a lot of pressure on them the whole game.”
Jones held the hammer in the first but was in trouble early as Muirhead had four stones in the house. Jones grabbed a piece of the lid with her final shot to limit the damage to just one point.
Jones bounced back scoring two in the second but Muirhead replied with a deuce of her own. Jones fell into trouble again in the fourth and her final shot hit and rolled out of the house to give up two points. Muirhead swiped another two in five and the team shook hands after Jones gave up another point in six.
“We’ve only lost one game, obviously, we managed to qualify through the B road but so far, so good,” Muirhead said. “Now I guess it’s like a new competition and a few more games, hopefully, and we just have to keep winning.”
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In the men’s division B qualifiers, Jim Cotter, from Vernon/Kelowna, B.C., nailed a five-ender in the seventh to win 8-3 over Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher.
It was the second time Cotter iced a victory with a score of five.
“They were going for it a bit there and our guys just kept plugging away making their shots and we just stayed patient and just got fortunate,” Cotter said. “They’re a great up-and-coming team so it was a good win for us.”
Cotter’s team did not qualify at the Masters and dropped their first game of the Canadian Open to Brad Gushue but bounced back to win three straight to reach the men’s quarterfinals.
“We’ve been steadily getting a little better and better and the results haven’t exactly shown per se,” Cotter said. “We’ve had a lot of really tight games and just have kind of been on the wrong side but we’ve been building and getting stronger and stronger each game and so far it’s starting to come into place.”
Brad Jacobs, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., punched his team into the playoffs with a 7-3 victory over Gushue, of St. John’s, N.L. Jacobs broke a 3-3 tie with a single in five and pulled away with steals of two in six and one in seven.
In the C side, Nina Roth scored two in the seventh and stole four in the final frame to lift her Blaine, Minn., team to a 10-6 win and eliminate Julie Hastings, from Thornhill, Ont.
Sherry Middaugh, from Coldwater, Ont., stayed in the tournament with a 6-1 win over Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni.
