Edmonton’s Laura Walker is through to the final of the Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts and one win away from representing the province at the Canadian women’s curling championship.
Walker, who ran through the round-robin table undefeated at 7-0, added another to her tally with a decisive 7-1 victory over Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque in Saturday’s Page 1-2 playoff game in Okotoks.
After back-to-back blanks to start, Walker scored a deuce in the third and rolled away stealing pairs of points in consecutive ends. Rocque was limited to her lone single in the sixth and Walker tacked on another point in the eighth.
Rocque, who finished runner-up to Calgary’s Chelsea Carey last year, will have a second opportunity to reach the championship game taking on Krysta Hilker of St. Albert in Sunday’s semifinal. Hilker scored four points in an extra end to eliminate Edmonton’s Nicky Kaufman 11-7 during the Page 3-4 playoff game earlier Saturday.
A new provincial champion will be crowned as Carey also captured the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts and earned an auto-berth back to the event as Team Canada.
The Scotties Tournament of Hearts runs Feb. 15-23 in Moose Jaw, Sask. with the Tim Hortons Brier taking place Feb. 29 to March 8 in Kingston, Ont. [snippet]
2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts
| Team | Playdown dates/Winner |
| Canada | Chelsea Carey |
| Alberta | Sunday: Laura Walker vs. Kelsey Rocque/Krysta Hilker |
| British Columbia | Jan. 28-Feb. 2 |
| Manitoba | Jan. 28-Feb. 2 |
| New Brunswick | Sunday: Andrea Crawford vs. Sylvie Quillian |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | Erica Curtis |
| Northern Ontario | Jan. 28-Feb. 2 |
| Nova Scotia | Sunday: Mary-Anne Arsenault vs. Colleen Jones |
| Ontario | Jan. 27-Feb. 1 |
| Prince Edward Island | Suzanne Birt |
| Quebec | Sunday: Laurie St-Georges vs. Noemie Verreault |
| Saskatchewan | Jan. 24-28 |
| Northwest Territories | Kerry Galusha |
| Nunavut | Lori Eddy |
| Yukon | Hailey Birnie |
| Wildcard | Feb. 14: Top two teams on CTRS standings who did not win their provincials |
2020 Tim Hortons Brier
| Team | Playdown dates/Winner |
| Canada | Kevin Koe |
| Alberta | Feb. 5-9 |
| British Columbia | Jan. 28-Feb. 2 |
| Manitoba | Feb. 4-9 |
| New Brunswick | Jan. 28-Feb. 2 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | Jan. 28-Feb. 2 |
| Northern Ontario | Jan. 28-Feb. 2 |
| Nova Scotia | Sunday: Jamie Murphy vs. Kendal Thompson |
| Ontario | Jan. 28-Feb. 2 |
| Prince Edward Island | Bryan Cochrane |
| Quebec | Sunday: Vincent Roberge vs. Alek Bedard |
| Saskatchewan | Jan. 28-Feb. 2 |
| Northwest Territories | Jan. 29-Feb. 3 |
| Nunavut | Jake Higgs |
| Yukon | Thomas Scoffin |
| Wildcard | Feb. 28: Top two teams on CTRS standings who did not win their provincials |
[relatedlinks]