GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. — Saskatchewan’s Cathy Inglis is into the playoff round at the Canadian Masters Curling Championship.
Inglis and her Yorkton foursome of third Joan McCusker, second Patsy Kuspira and lead Bev Fuches picked up a win in their final game of the round robin on Saturday afternoon and as a result finished tied for second with a 7-2 record.
As a result, they’ll now face Alberta’s Team Bakker in the semifinal on Sunday morning, with the winner there advancing to the gold medal game at 2:30 p.m.
Before all that, there was the matter of clinching their playoff berth, and Inglis did so with an 8-6 win over Nova Scotia’s Team Saulnier.
It was another good start for Inglis in that contest, as they scored two in the first, got the force in the second and added three more in the third for an early 5-1 lead. Saulnier came all the way back with one in the fourth and a steal of three in the fifth to tie things up 5-5 at the break, but a Saskatchewan deuce the next end and steal in the seventh made it a three-point Inglis lead coming home. She’d hold Saulnier to one in the final end, and the playoff spot was in the books.
Inglis took on Bakker way back in their second game on Tuesday, taking an 8-2 victory. Their semifinal rematch is set for 10 a.m. Sunday,
Weyburn’s Jim Nikolejsin, third Jaime Miller, second Ray Calbow and lead Darcy Cretin didn’t have as much luck in the men’s championship pool, as they dropped a 6-3 decision to Nova Scotia’s Team Robinson.
Things were close early, as the teams exchanged single points the first two ended and Nikolejsin stole one in the fourth for a 2-1 lead. Robinson took over from there, though, scoring two in the fifth and stealing three in the sixth to go ahead 6-2. Nikolejsin would get one back in the seventh but could get no closer.
Nikolejsin closes out his Canadian Masters appearance with a 3-6 record.
