Duo survives mishap at curling trials

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This article was published 05/01/2018 (2892 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE — They say you never feel more alive than when you’ve just almost died.

If that’s the standard, Jill Officer and Reid Carruthers are the most alive people in Manitoba this morning.

Facing elimination at the mixed-doubles curling trials Friday night, Officer and Carruthers were playing Laura Crocker and Geoff Walker when they ran out of time, just as Officer was going to throw her team’s last rock of the game.

At the Olympics, or any other World Curling Federation event, running out of time would have meant Officer and Carruthers would automatically forfeit the game and their Olympic dream would be over.

But this event is played by Curling Canada rules. And those rules say that when you run out of time, you cannot throw any more rocks, but the other team must still win the game outright.

With Officer/Carruthers leading Crocker/Walker 5-4 and lying one counter on the four-foot when they ran out of time, that meant Crocker needed to throw her last rock — a hit — to at least tie the game or win it outright.

But Crocker missed everything entirely, which meant that mere moments after they were told their game was over, Officer and Carruthers were celebrating a bizarre 6-4 victory — and it was Crocker/Walker who were eliminated.

So, you feeling a bit fortunate right now, Carruthers was asked after the game.

“Do I even need to answer that?” Carruthers said. “Yes.”

Lucky or not, Carruthers will live to fight another day, still needing to win every remaining game this weekend if he’s going to keep his Olympic dream alive.

Joining Carruthers/Officer in the must-win category this morning are Jennifer Jones and Mark Nichols, who lost 10-3 to Brad Gushue/Val Sweeting. The loss means Jones/Nichols will need to win four straight if they’re going to go back to the Winter Olympics, where Jones won gold in 2014 and Nichols won gold in 2006.

No biggie, said Jones, who has always been at her best when her back is to the wall in major events.

“We’re just going to turn it up a notch now,” Jones said.

Meanwhile, Jones’s third Kaitlyn Lawes is just two wins away from returning to the Winter Olympics. But she’s got another former Olympic gold medallist in Gushue standing directly in her path.

Lawes, who won gold with Jones in Sochi, and her doubles partner, John Morris, advanced to the 1-vs.-1 game this afternoon with a 7-5 victory over Jocelyn Peterman/Brett Gallant.

It was the first loss all week for Peterman/Gallant, who had a 9-0 record coming into Friday night. It puts Lawes and Morris into a game where the winner advances straight to Sunday’s final, and the loser gets a second chance in tonight’s semifinal.

But Lawes and Morris will have their work cut out against a Gushue team that was the most formidable team on the ice Friday in posting convincing wins over previously undefeated Crocker/Walker and then Jones/Nichols.

Gushue was asked after posting that 10-3 thrashing of Jones/Nichols whether he’d like to be playing his team right now.

“No,” Gushue deadpanned. “I think we’re pretty good… But having said that, I don’t think we want to play a lot of these guys out here, either.”

Meanwhile, former Winnipegger Chelsea Carey and longtime Carruthers second Colin Hodgson are still alive here after an extraordinarily long Friday — in more ways than one.

The pair had to win a tiebreaker game at 8 a.m. just to qualify for the playoffs and then lost their coach, Dan Carey, prior to the start of their first playoff game in the afternoon when Dan Carey fell on the ice during pre-game practice and broke his wrist.

He was in hospital getting his wrist set while his daughter and Hodgson were losing that opening-round game 6-4 to Peterman/Gallant.

But Dan Carey bounced back Friday night — and so did his daughter, who, along with Hodgson, posted an 11-5 win over Dana Ferguson/Brendan Bottcher to keep their team alive.

By day’s end, Carey said she wasn’t even sure what day it was anymore.

“It was a lot today. It feels like two different days, actually. This morning’s game feels like it was yesterday,” she said.

Carey/Hodgson will play Jones/Nichols in one B-side game this morning, while Officer/Carruthers will play Peterman/Gallant in the other.

The winners advance to this afternoon’s 2-vs.-2 game, where the winner advances to the semifinal and the loser is eliminated.

The winner of Sunday’s final will represent Canada in mixed doubles at next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea.

email: paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @PaulWiecek