Early misses prove costly for Team Saskatchewan in loss to Manitoba

A couple of bad ends early spelled doom for Robyn Silvernagle and her Saskatchewan rink at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts on Tuesday evening.

In a battle for first place, Silvernagle’s rink lost 10-6 to Kerri Einarson’s Manitoba team in front of 2,784 people inside Mosaic Place.

“At the beginning, (the ice) was definitely a little bit different and then smartened up throughout and that was what we expected,” Silvernagle said. “We did get fooled a little bit at the beginning.”

The Saskatchewan representatives at the 2020 Canadian women’s curling championship were down 9-2 after four ends. Silvernagle flashed on a takeout attempt in the second that allowed Manitoba to steal three.

In the fifth end, Silvernagle tried for a triple takeout but missed just about all the rocks before going through the house, allowing Einarson to draw and score five.

“We were just missing on the wrong side of the (broom) and I missed that triple by an inch,” Silvernagle said. “It’s not like we curled horrible. It was just a couple bad ends so we just have to regroup after that.”

Silvernagle’s rink didn’t give up and battled back as best it could while facing the deficit.

“That’s our team; we do battle and we don’t give up,” third Stefanie Lawton said. “We just keep working hard out there and just make some good shots. You never know what could happen.”

Lawton, whose six career appearances at the Scotties lead Team Silvernagle, said her advice to the team would be to get some rest, have fun and come out to play on Wednesday.

“There’s going to be hiccups along the way, we know that. We got them all out today so then we move on and be ourselves (Wednesday) again,” Lawton said.

Saskatchewan (4-2) is to face Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville (3-2) in Silvernagle’s final round-robin game Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Earlier Tuesday, Silvernagle’s rink defeated Quebec 5-3 for its fourth win of the Scotties. The win set up the crucial meeting in the evening with Manitoba after some upsets.

Silvernagle’s team avoided an upset against Quebec.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be a gimme,” Silvernagle said after the win over Noémie Verreault’s winless rink. “We knew we had to play well. We’ve seen how they’ve played other teams and they’ve been right in the games so we knew we had to come out playing well today.”

Silvernagle’s team took control of the game in the fourth end by scoring three points and never looked back.

Both Lawton and Silvernagle made key takeouts throughout the game to help blank ends and not allow Quebec to steal points.

Silvernagle said the team as a whole is feeling more comfortable on the national stage than it did last year in its Scotties debut.

“That year of experience together has brought us a long way,” she said.

The 3,165 people in attendance for Draw 10 witnessed history as New Brunswick skip Andrea Crawford and her rink scored seven points in the seventh end against Manitoba.

It was the most points ever scored in a single end at the national women’s championship.

“We didn’t see (we had a chance at seven) until my last shot. I don’t think we even counted anything up until it was done. I knew I was throwing for a lot but I didn’t know it was seven,” Crawford said. “(I) definitely had some nerves there and had to settle myself down.”

The seven-point end propelled New Brunswick to a 13-7 win.

Earlier in the morning, Lori Eddy’s Nunavut rink defeated Northern Ontario 6-5 to earn its first win of the tournament.

“It’s a tough pool,” Silvernagle said. “It can be anyone’s game at any different time.”