SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — Krista McCarville seemed to be the team to beat heading into Wednesday’s action at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, coming off an emphatic win over Prince Edward Island that gave her sole possession of first place in the standings.
What a difference a day makes.
McCarville dropped both her games on Wednesday and fell into a tie for second place at after 14 draws at the Scotties.
One-day meltdowns are becoming a trend at this year’s edition of the Canadian women’s curling championship. On Monday, Jennifer Jones’s Canada rink dropped a pair of games after entering the day’s action undefeated at 3-0.
McCarville dropped decisions to Manitoba’s Jill Thurston in the morning draw and Sharon Cormier of the Northwest Territories/Yukon in the afternoon draw.
P.E.I. took advantage of McCarville’s stumble and moved into first overall at 7-2, while Ontario fell into a second-place tie with Canada and Manitoba at 6-3.
“When you lose your first game you wouldn’t mind a little bit of a break just to regroup and forget about it,” McCarville said. “Everyone is doing the same thing though, it’s not an excuse. Now we just have to regroup for tomorrow.”
Being near the top of the standings heading into the final day of the round robin is key for the McCarville rink as the playoff round kicks off on Friday.
“We’re still in the hunt which is a good thing,” McCarville said. “We only have three losses so it’s still in our control. We don’t have to worry about other teams winning or losing for us. It’s still in our hands.”
As Draw 14 wrapped up the big game of the day saw Kathy O’Rourke’s P.E.I. rink take over sole possession of first place with a 9-5 win over Canada.
“After last night’s game against Ontario, we didn’t play very well,” said O’Rourke. “They beat us pretty soundly.. We got together this morning and just said, ’Girls we’ve got to start making shots or people are going to start beating us.’
“We came out really strong this morning against Quebec and just tried to carry that through against Team Canada.”
Said Jones: “Obviously (P.E.I.) played very well. We just had the bad finish to the game and that’s not characteristic of us. It was a bad ninth end. I wish we could play it over again but we can’t so we’ll have to come out sharper tomorrow.”
Other Draw 14 action saw New Brunswick’s Andrea Kelly defeat Alberta’s Valerie Sweeting 9-3. New Brunswick scored three in the sixth end to break open the game.
B.C.’s Kelly Scott defeated Nova Scotia’s Nancy McConnery 8-7 in 11 ends. Nova Scotia scored a pair in the eighth end to open up a 7-4 lead. B.C. tied things up in the tenth end with a pair. Manitoba defeated Northwest Territories/Yukon 8-6.
The final round robin draws are set for today with tie-breakers (if needed) set for Friday at the Essar Centre.