It took until the final rocks came to a stop to decide the playoff participants at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Marla Mallett from Vancouver clinched first spot earlier in the day and then dropped two straight games to finish with an 8-3 record at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian women's curling championship.
Jennifer Jones and Team ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ stayed alive with a 6-5 victory over Mallett and will be play a tiebreaker today at 1 p.m. against Prince Edward Island.
Mallett came into the final draw with a two-game lead over the rest of the field.
Rebecca Jean MacPhee from Prince Edward Island and Marie-France Larouche had the evening draw off but they were assured of at least tiebreakers with 7-4 records.
After Cheryl Bernard of Alberta lost 6-5 to Krista McCarville of Ontario to eliminate them, Quebec was awarded second place and Saskatchewan third. Ontario and Alberta both had 6-5 records.
Mallett will play Quebec in the 1 vs. 2 Page Playoff game today at 6:30 p.m.
"This is exactly where we wanted to be,'' said ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ third Grace MacInnes. "We beat Quebec in our round-robin game and we get to play them in the 1-2 game. We had a slow start against Prince Edward Island but we played better in the
second half of that game.
"Against Team ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½, we tried to stay close. We probably had three shots, all draws, that were the difference in that game. They have such a good team that you just can't miss against them.''
"When we played Quebec in the round robin, they had an off game. I'm expecting to see a lot of rocks in play and we'll play that style. The ice has been great here and that allows us to play all the shots.''
In the other games on the final draw, Stefanie Lawton from Saskatchewan downed Barb Spencer of Manitoba 7-5 and Nancy McConnery from Nova Scotia dumped Heather Strong from Newfoundland/Labrador 7-6.
It took until Draw 17 to eliminate Strong and McCarville. They both came into their final round-robin games with 5-5 records and needing the stars to align perfectly to have a chance to qualify for a tiebreaker. Strong and McCarville had to win their games and then scoreboard watch and hope that Saskatchewan, Alberta and Team ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ all lost.
New Brunswick's Andrea Kelly, at 23, the youngest skip here, had a
5-6 record. Kerry Galusha from the Northwest Territories/Yukon had a great championship and finished with a 4-7 record. Spencer struggled all week and like McConnery was 2-9.
When the team from Prince Edward Island got out of their beds yesterday morning, they knew it would not be an easy day.
On their plates were the Team ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ rink from Winnipeg and Mallett.
The team of Robyn MacPhee, sister Rebecca Jean, Shelley Muzika and Tami Lowther entered the final round-robin day needing wins against both of them to stay in the playoff picture.
P.E.I. required an extra end before edging Team ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ mates 8-7 before stopping Mallett 7-5. The P.E.I. team had very little time to regroup after its win against Team ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ on the morning draw and play Mallett.
"We have been consistent and pulled through when we needed,'' said Robyn MacPhee, who throws the final rocks for P.E.I. while Rebecca Jean calls the game and plays the third stones.
"We have made some big shots on the back end [third and skip shots],'' said Robyn.
In other Draw 16 action, Larouche executed a great run back with her final stone on the 10th end to beat Lawton 7-5, New Brunswick beat Newfoundland 6-5 and the Territories scored three on the 10th end to beat Ontario 9-7.
"After yesterday [Wednesday], we needed to win both games,'' said Larouche. "It was a great feeling to do that."
The winner of today's game between Quebec and ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ advances to Sunday's final (5 p.m.). The semifinal is set for 4 p.m. tomorrow.
