Spencer and Rumfeldt post early wins at Canadian Olympic curling trials

KITCHENER, Ont. – Winnipeg’s Barb Spencer stole deuces in first and fifth ends en route to an 8-5 win over Regina’s Amber Holland in the opening women’s draw at the Capital One Road to the Roar curling pre-trials

Spencer stole one more in the third end to take an early 3-0 lead that she would never surrender.

The tournament will decide the final two men’s and women’s entries in the Canadian Olympic trials next month in Winnipeg.

Holland, looking for her fourth trip to the trials, fell behind 6-1 at one point before getting to within two thanks to a stolen deuce in the seventh end. But Spencer got the deuce back in the eighth to seal the victory.

“It’s tough ice to draw on because it curls so much, so you have to be pretty consistent,” Spencer said. “Amber Holland’s a great shooter. Even being up 6-2, we knew that anything can happen on this ice, and Amber can make a lot of great shots, and she did in that game. Fortunately we were able to come out on top this time.”

In other action, Kelly Scott of Kelowna, B.C., took two in the 10th end for a 6-5 win over Cathy Auld of Mississauga, Ont. The Ontario team led 3-1 at the break after forcing back-to-back steals. A tap by Scott for two points tied it up in the sixth, and a steal in the seventh brought her within one point.

In the 10th, with the four-foot full of rocks, Scott was able to protect two shot stones for the 6-5 win.

Tracy Horgan of Sudbury, Ont., defeated Edmonton’s Val Sweeting 8-3 thanks largely to a stolen three in the eighth end when Sweeting’s final shot slid through the house.

In the draw’s final game, Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay, Ont., drew for a single in the 11th end for a dramatic 9-8 victory over Calgary’s Crystal Webster. The teams traded three-enders in the ninth and 10th ends to set up the extra.

On the men’s side, Rob Rumfeldt of Guelph, Ont., scored three in the first end and three more in the third en route to an emphatic 12-5 win over fifth-seed Steve Laycock of Saskatoon.

Rumfeldt put the pressure on early, scoring three with the hammer in the first end, and holding three-time Brier participant Laycock to a single in the second. Despite trailing 7-3 after six, the Saskatoon foursome took a deuce in seven and had Rumfeldt in trouble in the eighth to steal a single.

But with a Laycock rock buried, Rumfeldt made a tricky angle raise on half a rock to score three and put the win in the bank.

“We’d seen a few shots down there and I think from our perspective it was just a question of the weight we wanted to throw,” said Rumfeldt. “Adam and I talked about it and it was somewhere between a third and half to make it. It was fun to throw.”

“It’s one game at a time,” he said about the tough competition ahead this week. “You take it very patiently.”

In the only all-Ontario matchup, Joe Frans of the Bradford Curing Club had his hands full early as Jake Higgs and his team from the Glencoe & District Curling Club took two in the first and stole another in the second when Frans’s final draw came up short. Higgs, calling the game but leaving last rocks to third Brent Ross, forced Frans to chase most of the game and stole the last two ends for a 9-3 victory.

Ottawa’s Bryan Cochrane faced 2006 Brier champion Jean-Michel Menard of St-Romuald, Que., in a game that saw lots of rocks in play from the start. After holding Cochrane to a single in the first, Menard took control and cruised to a 10-4 win.

In the other morning game, Greg Balsdon of the Loonie Sports Club in Elgin, Ont., hit for three in the ninth end for a 7-4 win over 2012 Brier bronze medallist Rob Fowler of Brandon, Man.

The top four men’s seeds — Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., Mark Kean of Toronto and John Morris of Kelowna/Vernon, B.C. — all had byes in the morning draw.