By Shawn Coates (@shawncoates)
Chelsea Carey (purple) lost to Sherry Middaugh (blue) in Draw 12 action at MTS Centre on Thursday, December 5, 2013. (SHAWN COATES / CHRISD.CA)
Jennifer Jones (white) beat Heather Nedohin (red) in Draw 12 on Thursday. (SHAWN COATES / CHRISD.CA)
WINNIPEG — Winnipeg’s Chelsea Carey (Fort Rouge CC) lost 7-6 to Sherry Middaugh in her final round-robin game of the 2013 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings Olympic curling trials Thursday afternoon and will now face the Coldwater, Ont. team once again in a tie-breaker 1:30 p.m. Friday at MTS Centre.
The winner of that game will move on to the semifinal against Rachel Homan.
In men’s action, Mike McEwen (Fort Rouge CC) downed fellow Winnipegger Jeff Stoughton (Charleswood CC) 9-6 to keep his playoff hopes alive. Sault Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs earned a trip to the men’s finals Saturday night after a 5-4 victory of previously unbeaten Kevin Martin.
DRAW 12 — WOMEN’S SIDE
Carey’s loss was a difficult one, as a win would have ensured her team a berth in the semifinals. A picked rock on her last shot in the ninth end prevented her from forcing Middaugh to draw for one, which would have given Carey the hammer coming home.
“We just didn’t make enough shots,” Carey said. “I missed a couple of bad shots… We just can’t be sloppy against these teams and expect to win the game.”
Carey put things in perspective, though, after the defeat.
“That’s a bad loss but we were guaranteed a tie-breaker either way,” she said. “If you had told us at the start of the week that we’d have a tie-breaker, we’d take it.”
Jennifer Jones (St. Vital CC) beat Heather Nedohin 6-5 to move to 6-1 in the standings and to crush Nedohin’s Olympic dreams. Jones will play in Saturday night’s final against the eventual winner of the semis.
Rachel Homan edged Stefanie Lawton 6-5 and Renee Sonnenberg beat Val Sweeting 9-8 in 11 ends.
DRAW 13 — MEN’S SIDE
Jon Mead (white), B.J. Neufeld (left) and skip Mike McEwen watch the play in Draw 13 at MTS Centre on Thursday. (SHAWN COATES / CHRISD.CA)
Fans hold up signs in the stands at the 2013 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings at MTS Centre. (SHAWN COATES / CHRISD.CA)
McEwen scored four in the third end and three in the eighth end to lock down the win. His win officially eliminates Stoughton from the playoffs.
At 3-3 the McEwen team is still in the hunt for a trip to Sochi, Russia and the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. He must now beat Kevin Koe in the Friday morning draw and have Toronto’s John Morris lose in his game with Martin to force a tie-breaker Friday afternoon.
Koe got his first win of the trials by beating Glenn Howard 7-6. Morris beat John Epping 7-6.
The final men’s round-robin game takes place Friday at 8:30 a.m. The women’s tie-breaker is at 1:30 p.m. and their semifinal is at 6:30 p.m. All times CST.
