SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — The Suzanne Birt rink has achieved its first goal at the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
That is to qualify for the championship round, which features the top four teams from each of the two eight-team pools. Birt, third stone Marie Christianson, second stone Meaghan Hughes and lead Michelle McQuaid defeated the Northwest Territories, skipped by Kerry Galusha, 15-5 on Wednesday morning to clinch a playoff berth.
The Mitchell O’Shea-coached rink from the Charlottetown Curling Complex will take a four-game winning streak into Wednesday night’s final round-robin game against Saskatchewan’s Robyn Silvernagle.
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The P.E.I. representative and Casey Scheidegger’s wild-card enter the 7:30 p.m. draw tied for first place in Pool B with identical 5-1 (won-lost) records, and Saskatchewan will take a 4-2 mark into its game versus P.E.I. Scheidegger also wrapped up a playoff berth with a 7-3 win over New Brunswick’s Andrea Crawford (2-4) in Wednesday’s early draw.
Scheidegger defeated P.E.I. 7-2 on Sunday in the head-to-head meeting between the two teams.
Against the Northwest Territories, Birt held a 6-5 lead after six ends before putting the game out of reach. P.E.I. counted three in the seventh with hammer to go up 9-5, and then stole six in the eighth to lead to early handshakes.
Team Birt has scored 28 points in its last two games, including a wild 13-12 extra-end win over New Brunswick’s Andrea Crawford on Tuesday. That game set a record for the most points scored in a national Scotties Tournament of Hearts game. The previous mark was 23.
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