Stacie Curtis and her Newfoundland and Labrador rink will have to take the long way — through a tiebreaker — to advance to the next round at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts national women’s curling championship in Penticton, B.C..
The team from St. John’s, which also includes Erin Porter, Julie Devereaux and Erica Trickett, lost 10-7 to British Columbia Wednesday evening in their final preliminary-round draw. It was a third straight defeat for Newfoundland, which had opened with four consecutive wins.
The 16-team event is divided into two eight-team pools. Four teams from each pool advance to the next stage of medal contention, the championship round.
Newfoundland is in Pool B, where Alberta and Team Canada had already clinched two of the berths entering Wednesday. The Curtis rink could have joined them with a win over the host team. Instead, Newfoundland, B.C. and Ontario finished tied with 4-3 records. Since British Columbia had defeated the other two teams in preliminary play, it takes third place, leaving N.L. and Ontario to square off in a tiebreaker today (1:30 p.m. NT) to determine the fourth team that will move on.
The Curtis rink had downed Ontario — whose lineup includes Newfoundland native Stephanie LeDrew — by an 8-5 score earlier in the week.
