Manitoba’s Lawes, Walter get wild card spots for Scotties Tournament of Hearts

Teams skipped by Manitoba’s Kaitlyn Lawes, Alberta’s Casey Scheidegger and Manitoba’s Meghan Walter will fill the three wild-card positions at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

With all of the provincial and territorial championships now complete, they are the top three non-qualified teams in this week’s Canadian team rankings.

Curling Canada officially announced the wild-card entries for the 18-team competition on Tuesday. The playdowns are set for Feb. 17-26 in Kamloops, B.C.

Lawes is ranked fourth behind defending Scotties champion Kerri Einarson of Manitoba, Ontario champion Rachel Homan, and Manitoba champion Jennifer Jones.

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British Columbia champion Clancy Grandy holds the fifth spot ahead of Scheidegger and Walter.

Laura Walker will fill in at third on Team Lawes for Selena Njegovan, who was granted a pregnancy leave by Curling Canada. Another mixed doubles player, Lisa Weagle, will serve as team coach.

There are still some provincial playdowns on the men’s calendar ahead of the March 3-12 Tim Hortons Brier in London, Ont.

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