Issue 7 – Friday, February 24, 2012 • An Official Publication of the Canadian Curling Association. ’Tobans Tops Jennifer Jones’s crew including lead Dawn Askin (left) clinched first place in the round- robin Thursday and will play B.C. in the 1/2 Page game Friday evening. Sponsor of the Day MARCH 2-10 • REXALL PLACE See Sponsor Profile on page 9 Page 2 HeartChart And then there were four Opening Rocks LARRY WOOD when Jones (9-2) defeated Ontario’s rookie a couple of big shots. Hopefully we’ll be Heart Chart Editor team skipped by Tracy Horgan (4-7) of Sud- sharp tomorrow.” bury 5-3, B.C.’s Scott (8-3) stole the winning Ontario took a 2-0 lead but couldn’t hold When all was said and done, the Scotties point in a 7-6 conquest of Becky Atkinson’s it. Jones tied it in the fifth and a deuce in the Tournament of Hearts round-robin results New Brunswick squad (5-6), Nedohin (7-4) seventh gave her control. more or less reflected most pre-tournament hung up three deuces and a steal en route to New Brunswick last-rocker Andrea Kelly predictions. a 7-6 win over Heather Smith-Dacey (4-7) of of Oromocto was heavy on a last-rock in- Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones and her team Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan’s Michelle turn bump after Scott buried her last in the of Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn Englot (5-6) of Regina, already eliminated four-foot playing the 10th all square but Askin finished safely out front as predicted. but playing loosey-goosey, hammered Hol- without the hammer. When Kelly’s rock The four-time champ put together a finish- land’s defenders 11-5 with a three- and a slipped by, B.C. had its eighth win, 7-6, and ing skein of six straight wins after losing to four-ender for finishing touches. another shot at renewing the old playoff ri- Amber Holland Monday night. Team Canada experienced a disastrous valry with Jones. But how a few days changed everything stretch run, losing four of its last five games The teams have met only once in a Page else. to finish 6-5, one game out of the playoffs. One-Two playoff at the Scotties. Jones won At round-robin’s finish Thursday night, Larouche (7-4) lost her final assignment that one 8-7 in 2005. Scott beat Colleen Jones and her old rival Kelly Scott of Kelow- 7-4 Thursday afternoon to Manitoba. Jones in the 2006 Page One-Two ad went na were firmly ensconced in tonight’s Page Newfoundland’s Heather Strong (4-7), on to win and lost to Jan Betker in the 2007 One-Two playoff game (7:30 p.m.) while Polar country’s Kerry Galusha (4-7) and Page One-Two and came back to win. Holland and her red maple-leafed crew was Spud Island’s Kim Dolan wrapped up their “We had a few in-turn draws on sheet D firmly ensconced on the sidelines. campaigns in the afternoon. in the 10th end,” said Scott, who has Sa- Also surviving the preliminary and slat- “We’re happy to be playing them (B.C.) sha Carter, Dailene Sivertson and Jacquie ed for the sudden-death Page Three-Four in the One-Two game,” said Jones, who al- Armstrong up front. “I don’t think we could matchup Saturday at 11 a.m. were Marie- ready has won four national titles. have made the last rock much better. We France Larouche of Quebec and Heather “You know we had a great game against had the perfect brushing, great line, great Nedohin’s home-province aggregation from them in the round robin. Hopefully, we have weight. It was a tough shot for her. It was Edmonton. the hammer this time and we won’t have to there but we held our breath on that last The final lineup was decided following steal. shot.” Heather Nedohin: Playoff bound. Thursday night’s final round-robin draw “I thought we had a good game tonight, Continued on Page 3 Our Country Rocks! Proud to support the 2012 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Today's Best Country Best Rock of All Time Friday, February 24, 2012 Page 3 Continued from Page 2 The B.C. team has struggled with the flu all week and certainly wasn’t figured as a near-finalist con- sidering its revamped lineup. “I think this was great for the entire team,” said Scott. “I think it was great for (rookie) Dailene to see that we’re capable of that and that’s what we expect from ourselves. It great for us to prove to ourselves that all the hours we put in practising this game are worth it and that’s why we do it. “We can smell it now. We’re close. “I think today was our best day as a team. Preci- sion was there tonight. “We’ve had a lot of breaks this week. We’ve had a lot of last-rock wins. We’ve had things going our way. A few measures going our way. Those are things you need to get through a tournament like this.” The hoarse-voiced Nedohin was ecstatic with her last day’s success — she defeated Newfoundland 10-3 in the morning before her late win. “Our goal was to make the playoffs and here we are. We’re celebrating right now,” she croaked. “Right now I’m over-the-top proud. Our team came here to make the playoffs and we did it in Alberta. I don’t think our team has ever made it easy on ourselves and we’re just keeping the pace like we normally do.” She wasn’t aware her playoff date was more than a day away. “We get the day off tomorrow?” she shouted. “Well look out Heart Stop Lounge!! Continued on Page 4 B.C. third Sasha Carter (l) and lead Jacquie Armstrong celebrate a second-place finish. Page 4 HeartChart Alberta sends hometown fans home in ecstasy Continued from page 3 nities when we had them,” said the defend- ing champion skip. “We’ll practise tomorrow but right now I “Later on tonight, Michelle and the team think we’ll just enjoy this moment and take played exceptionally well. I think Lana a breather. We just played 11 games so a (third Vey) made everything. In the ninth day off is just A-OK with the front end and end I wound up with no shot. A-OK with the back end.” “It was little bit of the whole season, Nedohin and Beth Iskiw form the back probably. We started off pretty good but end. Jessica Mair and Laine Peters operate we just needed to be that much sharper and out front. we weren’t. Always Shot Rock. Why was Larouche, with Brenda Nicholls, “It’s been a great year wearing the ma- Amelie Blais and Anne Marie Filtreau of St- ple leaf. You enjoyed it, you enjoyed being Romuald, having such a successful run? here and you hope to have the opportunity “We make all the shots,” said the skip to do it again.” who had a bad tournament a year ago but Will she be back with her team intact? previously was a fixture in playoffs. “And “ I have no idea,” she said. “If that op- we know we are able to make all the shots. portunity arises, great. If not, it is what it At the beginning we struggled a bit but now is. We haven’t even talked about what the The creamy consistency of we have so much confidence. future holds for Team Holland quite yet.” Amarula delights with lingering “I love the ice here because I know I can Holland admitted: “The last couple of trust it. That knowledge builds over a week losses I just didn’t play well. I didn’t figure subtle flavours of vanilla, caramel like this.” things out and the odd time I had the op- and chocolate. Regina’s Englot denied any special atten- portunity to make some shots for points I tion saved for her crosstown rival Holland did it.” Affirming its unrivaled taste, in the closer. Was she under-prepared with no provin- It was the first collision of these teams all cial playdowns for warmup? Amarula Cream was recently voted season. “No,” she said. “Oh gosh no. I think we “Best Liqueur in the World” at the “We’re just out there for some pride and managed our season quite well for what we it didn’t matter if we were playing our pro- wanted to do. No, we’re happy with that.” International Wine and Spirit vincial team or not,” said Englot. Galusha’s Territories team won twice on Competition. “Every team in this field is a competi- closing day, 7-5 over Holland and 7-4 over tor including them and that’s the way we Englot. needed to take it. I feel for them but I’m In other afternoon tilts, P.E.I. upended sure it just didn’t come down to one game New Brunswick, which had been in playoff for them. It’s a game and I’m not going out contention heading into the day, by an 11-4 there to lose to anybody.” count while Newfoundland doubled Nova The analysis for Holland’s demise was Scotia 10-5. simple. Scott dumped Dolan 8-5 in the morning “We didn’t capitalize on a lot of opportu- while Quebec defeated Ontario 7-5.