Draw One

The feature game was MB/SK of course.

Manitoba came out aggressive but it cost them a steal of two in the first end, and they never recovered. Some things were clearly at play here. First, the Saskatchewan team (especially their young third) made their shots, deferred to the skip, stayed calm and cool. Jan Betker read the ice well and called a good game. You cannot take away from their performance at all, and the outcome was never in doubt.

But the other side of the story was the outrageous performance by Manitoba, who could have been defeated by my club team. "Who was that team from Manitoba?" asked one of the posters on Curlingzone this evening. You got that right. I was asking myself the same thing. (Keep in mind, I do love this team and am rooting for them!). I don't know if it was the adrenaline, the press, or what, but hits were being overthrown (especially by Jones) and Jones never seemed confident while calling the shots or the ice. The only thing they had in hand, mostly, was weight.

The year they won the Scott, Jones played confidently and inspired confidence in her players. Now there is too much chatter going on. "Do you like this?" She's got to realize that she does call a good, aggressive game, and letting her team second-guess her is never going to result in a championship win. Or even extra games past Thursday. I noticed this same thing last year and am sorry to see it continue at this year's Scott. The team cohesion just isn't there, and Jenn's confidence has got to get boosted or Cathy may as well skip.

So, Saskatchewan wins. And moves up to among my favourites to be there next weekend.
Also winning: Team Canada, PEI, and NWT.

Kelley Law makes her debut tonight against Québec. I don't know the Québec team, so it will be interesting.