SASKATOON – Jacqueline Harrison admitted that nerves have been a problem in her debut look Saturday on the Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials.
You wouldn’t realize it by the outcomes.
The veteran skip took just a few deep breaths earlier than settling into the hack and making a game-winning deuce for a 6-5 victory over defending champion Rachel Homan within the ladies’s round-robin opener on the SaskTel Centre.
“We have been simply getting rocks in play and placing them in good spots and simply making an attempt to make their pictures as tough as we might,” Harrison mentioned. “We’ve all been in big-game conditions earlier than and sure, this can be a actually particular occasion and also you need to do nicely.”
Harrison, from Waterdown, Ont., got here by means of the latest pre-trials to earn the final spot within the nine-team ladies’s subject. She has performed in some Grand Slam occasions and Ontario championships previously, however that is by far the most important occasion of her profession.
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Two of her teammates – vice Alli Flaxey and second Lynn Kreviazuk – missed the playoffs on the 2017 trials in Ottawa. The lineup from the Dundas Valley Golf & Curling Membership is rounded out by Laura Hickey.
Harrison battled butterflies at occasions and mentioned her knees would shake somewhat bit every so often. She threw 76 per cent for the sport and improved to 5-12 lifetime in opposition to Homan.
“It’s nice, everybody needs a win of their first sport,” Harrison mentioned. “You simply get snug, make some pictures … we’re actually happy.”
Homan, who gained the 2017 trials in her hometown of Ottawa, represented Canada on the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, however didn’t make the rostrum. She’s one of many favourites once more this time round, whereas Harrison is a betting longshot at 66-1.
“It’s how we began the final time (at trials), so we didn’t need to change something up,” she quipped.
Homan fell to Chelsea Carey within the round-robin opener 4 years in the past, however topped Carey within the remaining to guide her Olympic ticket.
Carey, in the meantime, is serving as fifth and serving to with teaching duties for Tracy Fleury, who opened with a 7-4 win over reigning nationwide champion Kerri Einarson.
Einarson had some dangerous luck within the third finish as her stone picked and Fleury took benefit with a draw for 2. Fleury rubbed a guard within the seventh to arrange an Einarson draw for 2 that tied the sport, however Fleury rebounded with a three-ender within the ninth.
“It’s been an important yr for us, we’ve been actually constant and simply appear to search out methods to win shut video games,” mentioned Fleury, who improved her report in opposition to Einarson to 5-0 this season.
Fleury’s group is the runaway chief within the Canadian ladies’s group rankings.
“To this point they’re rolling,” Carey mentioned. “Stuff simply goes your approach once you’re taking part in that nicely.”
Within the different Draw 1 video games, Jennifer Jones beat Krista McCarville 8-5 and Casey Scheidegger topped Laura Walker 6-4.
Introduced attendance for the afternoon draw was 4,558. The venue seats about 14,000 for curling.
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Within the late draw, Mike McEwen topped Matt Dunstone 7-2 and Brad Jacobs dumped John Epping 9-3.
Defending males’s champion Kevin Koe, who additionally missed the Olympic podium in Pyeongchang, opened with a 9-2 rout of Tanner Horgan. Brad Gushue scored three within the tenth finish for a 6-4 victory over Brendan Bottcher.
“I haven’t been that nervous on an open hit in so lengthy,” Gushue mentioned. “I obtained within the hack and I used to be like, ‘Oh my God. These are Olympic trial nerves.’
“That’s what we play for. It was thrilling to have and I made the shot in order that’s the necessary half.”
The highest three groups within the males’s and girls’s attracts will advance to the playoffs. The finals are set for Nov. 28.
Profitable groups will signify Canada in February’s Winter Olympics in Beijing.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Nov. 20, 2021.
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