Moving day became an unexpected cut-down day for many teams at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Four of the five available berths were secured Wednesday as Canada’s Kerri Einarson, Manitoba’s Beth Peterson, Nova Scotia’s Christina Black and Alberta’s Selena Sturmay all earned wins at Paramount Fine Foods Centre.
Einarson joined the unbeaten Kaitlyn Lawes of Manitoba in the Pool A playoff picture with a 13-2 win over Nicky Kaufman of the Northwest Territories in the morning session.
The three Pool B teams were locked in when Peterson, Black and Sturmay were victorious in the afternoon at Paramount Fine Foods Centre.
“The last few years (our last round-robin game) has been a must-win, need-some-help type situation,” Black said. “So it’s nice to know it’s not that.”
Peterson beat Alberta’s Kayla Skrlik 8-4, Black defeated Prince Edward Island’s Amanda Power 6-3 and Sturmay topped Newfoundland and Labrador’s Mackenzie Mitchell 11-6.
Another session was scheduled for Wednesday night and a full three-draw day of round-robin play was set for Thursday. One spot in Pool A was still up for grabs and the playoff teams will be jockeying for the best possible seeding.
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“We’ve got some work to do but I’m looking forward to just the playoff atmosphere,” Peterson said.
Einarson scored four points in the second end and never trailed in her game. The four-time national women’s curling champion improved to 6-1.
“I’ve been feeling really good,” she said. “We only had one game where we were on the wrong side of the inch and we couldn’t buy a shot.
“But that happens sometimes and our last two games we’ve really come back and been playing well.”
Einarson was in second place in Pool A behind Lawes (6-0), who was idle for the morning session.
Peterson was the lone unbeaten team in Pool B at 6-0. Black was next at 6-1 and Sturmay was 5-1 while Skrlik fell into a fourth-place tie with Northern Ontario’s Krista Scharf at 3-3.
In other early games, Taylour Stevens of Nova Scotia outscored British Columbia’s Taylor Reese-Hansen 11-10 in an extra end and Saskatchewan’s Jolene Campbell beat Yukon’s Bayly Scoffin 10-4.
Ontario’s Hailey Armstrong needed an extra end to complete an 8-5 win over Quebec’s Jolianne Fortin. Armstrong, who shot a game-low 63 per cent, had hammer in the 11th and made a game-winning hit for the victory.
“A lot of pressure, the heartbeat is going,” Armstrong said. “I’m just happy that I had a hit, to be honest, and just picked it out. We’re a drawing team as well but we’re a really good hitting team.
“So that was my shot of choice. So I liked that.”
In the battle for the last remaining playoff spot in Pool A, Stevens and Armstrong took 4-2 records into the evening session. They are scheduled to play each other Thursday afternoon.
Campbell was next at 3-3.
New Brunswick’s Melodie Forsythe doubled Nunavut’s Julia Weagle 10-5 in the other afternoon game.
In the playoffs, the first-place team from Pool A will meet the second-place team from Pool B in the first round.
The winners will go to the Page playoff 1-2 game, while the losing teams meet the third-place finishers from pool play. The winners of those games will advance to the Page 3-4 game.
The 1-2 loser plays the 3-4 winner in the semifinal. The winner advances to Sunday’s final against the winner of the 1-2 game.
The champion will represent Canada at the world women’s curling championship in March at Calgary.
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