It’s a clash of titans today as Janet Klebe battles Royal City’s Isobel Gardner in a 2 p.m. draw at the 2019 B.C. Masters Curling Championship in Nanaimo.
Klebe (6-1) and Gardner (7-0) are running away from the field but they’ve not yet mathematically clinched a playoff spot.
The top team in the 10 team field gets a bye into Sunday’s final while the second and third place teams qualify for a Saturday night semi-final.
A win for Klebe against Gardner would lock down the semi-final spot.
A loss to Gardner wouldn’t be catastrophic. As long as Klebe beats Rampton she should still be in.
Klebe and her crew — Kerri Miller (third), Jane Adam (second) and Laurie Shimizu (lead) — would already be through to the playoffs if not for an unexpected stumble Thursday afternoon against Nanaimo’s Carol Tromans (3-4).
After stomping her first five foes by a combined score of 53-10, Klebe and her crew fell 5-3 in a major upset, with Tromans scoring one in the seventh end and two in the eighth end to erase a 3-2 deficit.
Klebe bounced back with an 8-0 whomping of Royal City/Cloverdale’s Carol McFadden, and statistically she’s led the most dominant team in the tournament.
Gardner’s wins have been lopsided, but not to the same degree, as she’s outscored her foes by a combined score of 51-28 to Klebe’s 61-10.
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- Meanwhile, on the men’s side, Chilliwack’s Russ Knutson is part of an unbeaten team.
Vic Shimuzu’s rink is 5-0 heading into a Friday afternoon match with Doug Smith (Nelson/Vernon/Trail/Beaver Valley).
Knutson curls third for the team.
Same as the women’s tournament, the top three teams (in a field of eight) will qualify for playoffs.
Shimizu has only to win one of his last two matches to qualify for a semi-final, and could still catch Kerry Park’s Wes Craig for top spot if he wins both of his final matches, including a head-to-head against Craig Saturday morning.