The 2021-22 curling season is still very young, but Tracy Fleury of East St. Paul, Man., has already won her second event.

Fleury and her team of third Selena Njegovan, second Liz Fyfe and lead Kristin MacCuish went a perfect 7-0 at the Sherwood Park Women's Curling Classic, edging two-time defending Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion Kerri Einarson in the final, 6-4.

Fleury stole a single in the eighth and final end to secure the victory after Einarson missed a difficult runback for the win. 

Team Fleury also had a perfect run to capture the Oakville Labour Day Classic earlier this month. 

The 16-team field in Sherwood was stacked with notable names such as Jennifer Jones, EunJung Kim, Laura Walker, Rachel Homan and Daniela Jentsch all making the playoffs. 

Jones, Walker and Homan lost in the quarters while Kim and Jentsch fell in the semis. 

The triple knockout bonspiel had a total purse of $12,200. 

 

Galusha Wins on Tour 

Scotties regular Kerry Galusha doesn’t compete a lot on Tour given that she lives in Northwest Territories, but 43-year-old skip made the most of her long trip to Ontario this weekend. 

Galusha, who has 18 appearances at the Canadian championship under her belt, sat out Sunday’s final at the KW Fall Classic as she was dealing with a minor injury and elected to rest up for this week’s Canadian Curling Pre-Trials Direct-Entry Event in Ottawa. 

Still, the Yellowknife rink of Jo-Ann Rizzo at skip, spare Leigh Armstrong at third, Sarah Koltun at second and Shona Barbour at lead made a late charge to defeat Woodstock’s Team Hollie Duncan 13-7 in the final. 

Trailing 7-5 after six ends, Team Galusha put up a five-spot in the seventh end followed by a steal of three in the last end for the six-point advantage. 

Julie Tippin spared for Duncan in the skip position. 

Galusha and Duncan played each other in the final of the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard last weekend, with Duncan winning 7-3. 

Team Galusha defeated Isabelle Ladouceur in the semifinals and Danielle Inglis in the quarterfinal.

The 20-team field had a purse of $12,625 with $3,200 going to the winners.

It was an all-Scottish men’s final at the KW Fall Classic with Stirling’s Ross Whyte defeating Ross Paterson of Glasgow, 5-3. 

Whyte, third Robin Brydone, second Duncan McFadzean and lead Euan Kyle went 7-0 at the KW Granite Club. 

The 15-team field had a total purse of $8,750 with $2,300 going to the winners. 

 

Battle of the Wild Cards

Manitoba’s Mackenzie Zacharias and Beth Peterson represented two the three Wild Card rinks at last year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts inside the Calgary bubble and the pair squared off in the final of the Mother Club Fall Curling Classic on Sunday. 

Zacharias, 22, out of the Altona Curling Club scored deuces in the second and sixth ends for the 5-3 victory. 

Team Zacharias, rounded out by third Karlee Burgess, second Emily Zacharias and lead Lauren Lenentine, went 6-0 over the four-day bonspiel in Winnipeg. 

Kristy McDonald is returning to the elite-level curling circuit this fall after a brief hiatus and advanced to the semis at the Mother Club Fall Curling Classic, losing to Zacharias in a 9-2 rout.

Zacharias’ rink, who won gold at the 2020 World Junior Curling Championship in Russia, received a wild-card invite to last year’s unprecedented Scotties field and proceeded to finish with a 3-5 record. 

Team Peterson also received a wild-card invite and qualified for the championship pool, finishing with a 7-5 showing. 

The eight-team field had a purse of $3,800 with $1,200 going to the winners. 

On the men’s side of the draw, it was Riley Smith and his Winnipeg crew getting the better of Braden Calvert, also from Winnipeg, 6-4 in the championship game. 

Smith, joined by third Nick Curtis, second Jared Hancox and lead Justin Twiss, stole a pair in the extra end to pick up the victory. 

Pat Simmons, another veteran curling making a return this season, lost to Smith in the semis, 4-3. 

The 12-team field had a purse of $5,700 with the winners earning a total of $1,600. 

 

East Coast Spiel

The Remax Centre in St. John’s, Nfld., hosted the Rick Rowsell Classic over the weekend as Andrew Symonds and his rink of third Colin Thomas, second Chris Ford and lead Keith Jewer beat Ryan McNeil Lamswood in the final, 8-2.  

It was the second straight year they won the event. 

Two-time provincial champion Greg Smith lost in the quarterfinal round. 

The 13-team field had a total purse of $6,500 with Team Symonds earning $2,600. 

On the women’s side of the draw, Mackenzie Mitchell blanked Erica Curtis, 6-0. 

Mitchell was joined by third Katie Follett, second Sarah Chaytor and lead Kate Peterson. 

The six-team field had a total purse of $2,500 with Team Mitchell taking home $1,400. 

 

To the Trials

Lisa Weagle and John Epping qualified for the 2022 Canadian Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials after a strong performance at the Aly Jenkins Mixed Doubles Memorial this weekend in Martinsville, Saskatchewan. 

Weagle and Epping defeated Jennifer Armstrong and Catlin Schneider in the semifinals, 9-6, earning the Trails spot in the process as the other semifinal featured two duos from Sweden. The Canadians faced off against Isabella and Rasmus Wrana of Stockholm later Sunday in the final, losing 8-1 after three ends. 

The purse was $32,000 with $8,000 going to the winning duo.