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CALGARY – Gabby Wood says her curling team is ready for anything this season after facing the No. 1 women’s team in the world.
Canada’s women’s college champions took on Rachel Homan in the opening draw of the PointsBet Invitational singles match on Wednesday.
Edmonton foursome Wood took their lumps in an 11-2 loss, and will also take the experience of playing on arena ice and on television against Canadian and world champions.
“It’s a crazy first game of the season, so to be honest, none of our opponents after this are going to look that scary,” said 20-year-old Wood.
The PointsBet Invitational which unofficially kicks off the Canadian curling season offers a purse of over $350,000, including $50,000 each to the men’s and women’s winners, to an eclectic field of 32 teams.
There is an element of soccer’s FA Cup as underdog, college, university, under-25 and club junior champions look to upset, and send home early, the likes of Homan and reigning Canadian men’s champion Brad Gushue.
And 13th-seeded Jordan McDonald provided those fireworks Wednesday by eliminating fourth-seeded Matt Dunstone 8-5 in an all-Winnipeg matchup.
“It means the world,” McDonald said. “It was an unbelievable experience out there today.”
Kaitlyn Lawes, who was ranked fourth in Canada at the end of last season, beat recently crowned national women’s under-25 champion Taylor Reese-Hansen 5-2.
“Every time we get to play on arena ice, we’re very excited, and playing against a first class team, that’s what we want to do. That’s where we want to be,” Reese-Hansen said. “These are the teams we want to play against and see how we stack up, so it’s hugely valuable.”
National No. 8 Corryn Brown doubled varsity girls champion Serena Gray-Withers 8-4 in the opening draw.
“It makes us hungrier for more, to be honest, because we’ve been very blessed with great ice, great rocks and great conditions here, so we want to be back for more, ” Gray-Withers said.
Selena Sturmay edged Ashley Thevenot 8-7 in the other women’s match to start the five-day match at WinSport Arena in Calgary.
In the men’s draw on Wednesday night, Gushue defeated Canadian men’s club champion Dan Sherrard 12-4.
Kevin Koe, who played a three-man team after firing runner-up Jacques Gauthier the day before, was down to university men’s champion Josh Bryden 8-4. Rylan Kleiter defeated Sam Mooibroek 5-2.
McDonald, who won the national under-25 championship last month, kept the pressure on Dunstone with well-timed pull-ups and runs.
Dunstone tried to pick up a hard angle to score one and force the PointsBet draw to the button, but failed to concede a strike of two.
“Playing as a team at all for us is a really big experience,” said McDonald, who said his team had gained confidence from playing Reid Carruthers and Mike McEwen in the past year.
“We feel like we can hang with these teams a little bit more.”
Thursday’s matches include defending men’s champion Reid Carruthers facing Felix Asselin, women’s under-21 national champion Allyson MacNutt against four-time Canadian champion Kerri Einarson and men’s under-21 champion Kenan Wipf facing McEwen second in 2024 Brier.
“We are so grateful that they include the champions of the college, the champions of the university,” Wood said. “We don’t get a ton of opportunities to play on arena ice, so that makes a huge difference developmentally.
“Having an opportunity, apart from our national players, to play on arena ice, on this big stage, to experience just a little bit of what the experience offers is very exciting and truly inspiring.”
Seven months after claiming the Scotties Tournament of Hearts title on the same WinSport ice, Ottawa’s Homan opened the defense of her PointsBet crown by scoring four in the second end en route to victory.
“It’s great to have them on this kind of stage, on a national stage and getting some arena ice experience is really key for the next generation to get as much experience as possible,” said Homan.
“There’s a lot they can pull out for sure. Lots of great throws and I thought they communicated well.”
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on September 25, 2024.
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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