CALGARY, Alta. — P.E.I.’s Suzanne Birt rink is in contention for a playoff spot at the 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
The team out of the Cornwall and Montague clubs overcame an early deficit to outlast Nunavut’s Lori Eddy team 10-8 in Thursday morning’s draw at the Canadian women’s curling championship. Alison Griffin of P.E.I. plays second for Nunavut.
The 18-team event is taking place at the Markin McPhail Centre at Canadian Olympic Park in Calgary.
P.E.I., which dropped its lone game on Wednesday 9-5 to Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones (5-2), improved to 5-3 (won-lost) and will close out the round-robin schedule against British Columbia’s Corryn Brown (3-4) on Thursday at 9:30 p.m.
It's a must-win game for the P.E.I. representative to be guaranteed at least a tiebreaker game Friday morning. A loss will eliminate the Birt rink.
The top four teams will advance to the championship pool.
The Mitch O’Shea-coached Birt rink also includes third Marie Christianson, second Meaghan Hughes, lead Michelle McQuaid, alternate Kathy O’Rourke.
Against Nunavut, P.E.I. fell behind 4-0 after three ends but scored four in the fourth end to tie the game.
The teams blanked the fifth end and then exchanged deuces with the hammer in the sixth and seventh ends.
Nunavut scored twice in the eighth end to retake the lead, but P.E.I. answered back with a four-ended in the ninth to take its first lead of the game. Team Birt then ran Nunavut out of rocks in the 10th end.
Nunavut, which faces Manitoba in Thursday's final round-robin draw, is 0-7.
