Kerri Einarson named top seed for Manitoba Scotties

Kerri Einarson and her new look team has been given the top seed for next week’s Manitoba Scotties Tournament Of Hearts in Gimli.

With Team Jennifer Jones not competing as the defending national champions, Team Einarson will enter the bonspiel as the favourites playing in their hometown rink.

Team Einarson’s teammates from a year ago are the second seed, with Tracy Fleury now at skip. Darcy Robertson is ranked third and Allison Flaxey is the fourth seed, followed by Beth Peterson.

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Einarson, who won the the 2015 Manitoba Scotties, has won four events on the World Curling Tour this season with Val Sweeting at third, Shannon Birchard at second, and Briane Meilleur playing lead.

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“There’s a lot of really tough teams in Manitoba,” Birchard said.

“There’s gonna be quite a few dark horses coming up and nipping at our ankles. And they’re gonna give us a lot of really tough games. So we’re gonna have to play well, play smart, and hopefully that’s enough.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There's gonna be quite a few dark horses coming up and nipping at our ankles. And they're gonna give us a lot of really tough games. So we're gonna have to play well, play smart, and hopefully that's enough."

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Team Einarson might be the team to beat, but this year’s field is as strong as ever with a number of Manitoba teams having strong seasons on the cash tour.

“They’ve had a really good year, but I’ve learned from playing the women’s that anyone can beat anyone at anytime,” Team Fleury third Selena Njegovan said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They've had a really good year, but I've learned from playing the women's that anyone can beat anyone at anytime," Team Fleury third Selena Njegovan said.

“So we can’t really take anyone lightly for sure. We just have to go out and play our game, and hopefully things work out.”

The event begins on Jan. 23 and concludes with the final on Jan. 27 at the Gimli Recreation Centre.

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