SCOTTIES DRAW 14: Link - Brown Advance, Playoffs Set

Friday Jan 08 2010

The key game on the noon draw at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Killarney was a Joelle Brown-Karen Fallis showdown. Brown was 5-1 and a win would put her in the playoffs. Fallis was 4-2 and a win would mean a three-way tie for second place and two tie-break games yet today. Tied 5-5 playing the eight end, Fallis had a chance for a draw for a pair but came up short of the rings. Brown was able to blank the ninth end and trailed 6-5 coming home with the hammer.

It went to the final rock. With Brown laying one, she drew around the outside needing to be within an inch of the four foot. As her rock slowed coming into the rings, it rubbed a Fallis stone but just enough to slow it and the Brown draw stopped for the second point and a 7-6 win.

Three sheets over, Barb Spencer and her team were probably watching a little more than usual. The loser of their game with Kim Link would be the third team in that tie and Spencer trailed by three after Link took that many on the sixth end. Leading 6-3 playing nine, Link’s last rock stayed wide but rubbed and rolled to the four foot and Spencer was unable to remove it.  The defending champion ran out of rocks coming home.

PLAYOFF SCENARIO: In this pool, Link and Brown are 6-1. Link gets first place because she beat Brown. In the other pool Janet Harvey and Jill Thurston are 6-1. Harvey gets first place. Harvey plays Link in the Page 1-1 game. Brown plays Thurston in the Page 2-2 game. Those games go tonight at 7pm at the Shamrock Centre.

In the other two games, the frustrating event for Liza Park’s Wheat City team has come to an end on a winning note. Park scored a five on the seventh in beating Tanis Fortin (The Pas) 10-3.

And Kaileigh Strath (Winkler) became the only team among the eight in the bottom half of the two pools to finish with a positive record. Strath defeated Terry Ursel (Plumas) 11-5 to finish at 4-3.

GROUP STANDINGS (Link here to a Team Personnel List)
6-1 Kim Link (East St Paul)
6-1 Joelle Brown (Fort Rouge)
5-2 Barb Spencer (Fort Rouge)
4-3 Karen Fallis (Wildewood)
4-3 Kaileigh Strath (Winkler)
1-6 Tanis Fortin (The Pas)
1-6 Terry Ursel (plumas)
1-6 Liza Park (Wheat City)
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SCOTTIES DRAW 12:   Link Wins 5th in a Row with Victory over Brown - There are now no unbeaten teams in the group which completed play on the late Friday draw at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Killarney. Joelle Brown(Fort Rouge) lost this evening – a 6-4 loss to Kim Link (East St Paul), who lost her opener to Kaileigh Strath and has been perfect since. Both Link and Brown now have 5-1 records with a game to play.

Defending champion Barb Spencer (Fort Rouge) is also 5-1 with a 9-7 win this evening in her game with Karen Fallis (Wildewood). Tied 7-7 coming home without the hammer and facing a Spencer stone in the top four foot, Fallis played a first rock draw which bumped the Spencer stone a few inches but left it shot. Spencer in turn played a tap, moving the Fallis stone and leaving a Spencer-Fallis-Spencer chain that had to be bumped to give Fallis the shot rock.

Fallis made as good a shot as she could, bumping Spencer deep enough and leaving the angles so Spencer would have a tough shot but she made the raise takeout for a 9-7 win.

In the other games, Kaileigh Strath (Winkler) evened her record at 3-3 with a 9-2 win over Tanis Fortin (The Pas) and Terry Ursel (Plumas) won the battle of previously winless teams, scoring a 7-5 victory over Liza Park (Wheat City).

PLAYOFF SCENARIOS: In the final round Saturday morning, Spencer plays Link and Brown plays Fallis.  The winner between Spencer and Link will be in the playoffs at 6-1. If Brown wins, she too will be in the playoffs at 6-1 but if Fallis wins, there is a three way tie at 5-2 for the second playoff spot in the group.

GROUP STANDINGS (Link here to a Team Personnel List)
5-1 Joelle Brown (Fort Rouge)
5-1 Barb Spencer (Fort Rouge)
5-1 Kim Link (East St Paul)
4-2 Karen Fallis (Wildewood)
3-3 Kaileigh Strath (Winkler)
1-5 Tanis Fortin (The Pas)
1-5 Terry Ursel (plumas)
0-6 Liza Park (Wheat City)
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SCOTTIES DRAW 10:   Brown Alone at 5-0 - Joelle Brown (Fort Rouge) is the only undefeated team in her group at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Killarney. Brown stole a single on the seventh to take a one point lead and defending champion Barb Spencer (Fort Rouge) had to take one on the eight to tie. The game was won on the ninth. Facing a pair, Spencer’s draw was a little too heavy to get to the backing and Brown had a draw for three to lead 8-5 coming home. Brown ran Spencer out of rocks coming home.

And – needing to win, Kim Link (East St Paul) took early control in her game with Karen Fallis (Wildewood). Leading 6-0 after three and 7-1 after five. There were four in the rings with a Link rock to come when last year’s finalist conceded a 7-2 victory. Spencer, Fallis and Link are all now 4-1.

Brown plays Link  and Spencer plays Fallis on to day’s late draw.

In the bottom half of the grouping, Kaileigh Strath (Winkler) won her second, a 9-1 victory over  Liza Park (Wheat City) and Tanis Fortin (The Pas) scored a single on an extra end for her first victory, a 9-8 win over Terry Ursel (Plumas) , who like Park is still winless.

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SCOTTIES DRAW 7:   Spencer, Fallis, Brown Improve to 4-0 - Karen Fallis (Wildewood), last year 's provincial finalist, and her new young team were the first team to post a 4-0 record at this year 's Scotties in Killarney. On the seventh end of her afternoon game with Tanis Fortin (The Pas), Fallis counted the latest in a growing number of five-enders being scored here this week to end the game at 13-3. Defending champion Barb Spencer marked up her fourth win soon after -  breaking open a 7-5 game with a three on the ninth end. The 10-5 loss was the third for Kaileigh Strath (Winkler) and probably signals the end of her upset dreams for this year.

And in her game Joelle Brown (Fort Rouge) stole four on the eighth. That was really the end for Liza Park (Wheat City) although they played the ninth.  Brown stole another point for a 10-5 win when Park's attempt at a difficult double for two didn't work out.

Kim Link (East St Paul) kept pace, winning her third after an opening loss to Kaileigh Strath. Link's 10-4 win over Terry Ursel (Plumas) was Ursel's fourth loss.

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SCOTTIES DRAW 5:  Third Wins for Spencer, Fallis, Brown - Defending champion Barb Spencer (Fort Rouge) and her team are at 3-0 in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Killarney after a 9-2 blow-out victory this morning over Tanis Fortin (The Pas). A stolen deuce on the third end opened up a 4-1 lead for Spencer and they led 7-1 after 6 ends.

In other games this morning, Kaileigh Strath (Winkler) pushed Karen Fallis (Wildewood) to the limit, leading 6-5 coming home. However, Fallis made good on a last rock draw opportunity, scoring a deuce with her draw to the top edge of the four foot and a 7-6 win for the Winnipeggers.

Joelle Brown (Fort Rouge) stayed even with Spencer and Fallis, at three wins, Brown was a 5-3 winner over Terry Ursel (Plumas).

And Liza Park (Wheat City) again fought from behind but fell short. Trailing Kim Link (East St Paul), Park scored two on the seventh, and stole one on each of the eight and ninth ends to be tied 8-8 coming home but couldn’t steal for the third time. Link won her second 10-8.

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SCOTTIES DRAW 3:  Second Wins for Spencer, Fallis, Brown - Defending Champion Barb Spencer (Fort Rouge) won her second game of opening day – a 10-4 win over Terry Ursel (Plumas) on the 4pm draw Wednesday. Joell Brown (Fort Rouge) and Kaeren Fallis (Wildewood) also scored their second victories.

Coming off a big first game win this morning, Kaileigh Strath (Winkler) drew to edge of four foot facing four to save the 8th end forcing Joelle Brown to a single to go ahead 5-4. Brown stole another in the ninth and was able to keep the home end mostly open but not perfectly. With her first stone, Strath buried behind a guard up the eight foot line. Brown moved it back but her rock rolled open leaving a hit and a deuce for a tie. On the extra end, Strath made a last rock tap to remove shot rock and lie one but Brown had an open hit up centre to sc ore four for a 10-6 extra end win.

Kim Link (East St Paul) bounced back from her morning loss to Strath with a 6-2 win over Tanis Fortin (The Pas).

In the fourth game on the 4 oclock draw, Liza Park (Wheat City) played from behind all day, trailing Karen Fallis (Wildewood) 5-2 at the break. Park closed to within two and was lying two when Fallis threw her final rock, a draw that was full four foot giving up a steal of one but meaning a 7-6 Fallis win – her second of the day.

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SCOTTIES DRAW 1: The Scotties Tournament of Hearts, presented by Monsanto, is underway in Killarney with 3 of the 4 seeded teams winning on the opening draw. Defending champion & top seed Barb Spencer, #4 seed Karen Fallis, and #8 seed Joelle Brown were all winners. Sixth seed Kim Link was upset by Kaileigh Strath - competing in her first Scotties.

The opening draw of any Curl Manitoba championship presents games between the top seeded teams and the lower seeds. The lesser ranked teams can begin their charge to the playoffs on these early draws and the higher ranked teams simply can not afford to lose.

Spencer, Fallis, and Brown all had a fairly easy time of it on the opening draw. All three scored four enders enroute to their victories.

Spencer (Fort Rouge) scored three on the second and stole four on the third end in defeating Liza Park and her Wheat City team 10-4. Brown (FortRouge)  stole a four on the second end in her 10-5 win over Tanis Fortin and her team from The Pas. It was the seventh end when Fallis (Wildewood) scored her four to jump out to a 6-2 lead on Terry Ursel’s Plumas entry. The final in that one was 6-4.

In the other game on the morning draw in Killarney, there was also a four-ender scored. Kim Link (East St Paul) used a four to jump into a 5-2 lead over Kaileigh Strath and her Winkler entry after six ends. Strath came back with two on the seventh and established early control of the eighth end. Link made one double kill but just missed on a second and Strath stole a point to tie. She stole again on the ninth to lead by one coming home. On the home end, Strath’s third Sabrina Neufeld set up the win with a freeze in the back of the four foot wither final rock. Strath was able to make a pair of draws to the other corner of the four – link hit and rolled out both times, leaving the Neufeld stone as a stolen point in a 7-5 victory.

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