Kelly Scott from Team Canada Wins the Scotties Tournament
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Source: Canadian Curling AssociationKelly Scott is headed back to the world championship.
The 29-year-old skip and her team from Kelowna, B.C., successfully defended its title Sunday afternoon at the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge, Alta., defeating Jan Betker of Saskatchewan 8-5 in the final of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian women’s curling championship.
“Amazing,” said Scott, named the winner of the Tournament of Hearts MVP award after the game. “We couldn’t have dreamed it. It’s unreal.”
With the win, Scott, third Jeanna Schraeder, second Sasha Carter and lead Renee Simons will represent Canada at the world women’s championship in Aomori, Japan, from March 17 to 25, hoping to improve on the bronze medal they won at last year’s Ford worlds in Grande Prairie, Alta.
“We’re going to Japan. That’s pretty wild,” said Scott. “We definitely worked hard with worlds in our sights this season. And we have a few more tricks in our bag this year that we’ll try and pull out in Japan.”
Team Canada couldn’t have asked for a better start to the game. Scott made an open hit to score two in the first end, then added a steal of two in the second when Betker’s last-rock attempt to hit and stick for a point wrecked on a guard. Another deuce in the fourth end made it 6-1, and Team Canada never looked back
“We got caught on the ice a little bit in the second end,” said Betker, who was backed up by third Lana Vey, second Nancy Inglis and lead Marcia Gudereit. “There was a bit of unsuredness there and that was the first time that happened all week.”
The Scott foursome is just the fifth in Canadian women’s championship history to repeat, joining Colleen Jones (who won four in a row), Vera Pezer (three in a row), Sandra Schmirler and Heather Houston.
The win also means Scott’s team will be at next year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Regina as Team Canada. In addition, her team will play at the Continental Cup, Dec. 13 to 16 in Medicine Hat, Alta., the 2008 Strauss Canada Cup of Curling in Kamloops, B.C., and the 2009 Canadian Curling Trials qualifying tournament, in addition to receiving $144,000 in Sport Canada funding over the next two years, as well as approximately $15,000 in cresting money.
Attendance for Sunday’s final was 4,934, bringing the total attendance over the nine days to 79,975 — the fifth-best total in Tournament of Hearts history.
Scott, Schraeder, Manitoba second Jill Officer and Gudereit were named to the first all-star team, while Betker, Vey, Carter and B.C. lead Darah Provencal formed the second all-star team.
The Season of Champions continues, with the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men’s championship set to open on March 3 at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ont.
SOURCE: Canadian Curling Association News
Here are the results of the Final Game
Source: Curlcast
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
You must log in to post a comment.