By Brady Lang

Mouat tops Howard to secure bye to playoffs

Jan 10, 2019 | 2:22 PM

Seven draws down, 12 to go.

We’ve passed the halfway point at the 2019 Meridian Canadian Open, and it’s been a solid first three days of the tournament.

In the 11:30 a.m. draw, it was a different feel in the Civic Centre with the TV cameras broadcasting live from the home of the North Stars. A loud, bright intro kicked off the draw, with four men’s and one women’s game taking the stage.

On sheet C, Canadian curling legend Glenn Howard took on Scotland’s Bruce Mouat in a game that determined a bye into the playoff round. It was a game that featured a few blank ends, but in the end, the young Mouat scored two in the eighth to secure the win, 4-3.

Mouat admitted that the game was a bit different than they’re used to, but he was happy with the way it all ended.

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“It was quite defensive,” he said. “We had a lot of blank ends, which we’re not really that used to. My team’s quite aggressive, so we like to put stones in play. It was a bit of a different type of game for us.”

This is the first time Mouat has set foot in Saskatchewan, only having arrived in Canada for the first time in January. With the dump of snow that the Battlefords received yesterday, it seemed like a bit of a culture shock for the 24-year-old.

“It’s pretty cold for us,” he said. “I’m enjoying it, the hotel is great, the foods been good, we’re really enjoying ourselves.”

With the win, the team ensured themselves a spot in the playoffs later this weekend. Mouat said the break is nice for his crew, and he knows how he’ll be spending his couple days off.

“Its important for us,” he said. “We get about 48 hours off, its a nice rest and we’ll enjoy tomorrow, just come and watch some curling and not take things too seriously.”

In the rest of draw seven, Brendan Bottcher also stamped his ticket to the playoffs with a 9-5 win over Peter De Cruz of Switzerland. Braden Calvert of Manitoba needed an extra end to defeat his Manitoba counterpart Reid Carruthers, 7-6.

Brad Gushue also was able to put together a win against Kingston’s Ott McDonald by a score of 5-3.

In the lone women’s matchup, it was another battle of Manitoba with two Winnipeg skips taking on one another. Tracy Fleury was the victor in that game, defeating Kerri Einarson 8-7 in an extra end.

Einarson will try to stay alive in the tournament against Elena Stern tonight at 7.

brady.lang@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @BradyLangCJNB