GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. — With her last shot of the preliminary round, Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson secured a playoff berth Friday at the Canadian women’s curling championship.
Alberta’s Chelsea Carey, defending champion Jennifer Jones, Manitoba and Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville advanced to the Page playoff at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts at Revolution Place.
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Carey and Jones, both 9-2, were to meet in a game between the top two seeds Friday night with the winner advancing to Sunday’s championship game.
The loser drops to Saturday evening’s semifinal to face the winner of the afternoon playoff between Manitoba and Northern Ontario, both 7-4.
Trailing the entire game against New Brunswick’s Sylvie Robichaud, Einarson executed a tricky double takeout and kept her shooter in the rings to score three for the 7-6 win.
Jones defeated B.C.’s Karla Thompson 11-4 in the round-robin finale. The defending champions ranked second because they lost their tournament opener to Alberta.
Northern Ontario dropped a 6-4 decision to Ontario’s Jenn Hanna and head into the playoffs as the fourth seed.
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Einarson’s shot broke the hearts of teams with five losses as they needed a Manitoba loss to keep playing in tiebreakers. Nova Scotia’s Jill Brothers, Saskatchewan’s Jolene Campbell and Ontario finished 6-5.
Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche finished up with a 7-2 win over Suzanne Birt of Prince Edward Island. Quebec’s record was 5-6 and P.E.I.’s was 4-7.
Stacie Curtis of Newfoundland and Labrador finished 3-6. New Brunswick and B.C. both finished 2-9.
New Brunswick’s loss means the province will join Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut in next year’s pre-tournament qualifier to get into the main draw at the 2017 event in St. Catharines, Ont.