The fourth night of the Players’ Championship featured a couple of tiebreakers on the women’s side and the last draw of preliminaries for the men.
Jennifer Jones from Manitoba took care of the Swiss club led by Michele Jaeggi, 6-3, in a tiebreaker to make it to the quarterfinals.
Jones took three in the third to put a stranglehold on the contest.
“It was a big turning point in the game and we never looked back,” she said.
Playing their tiebreaker Friday as opposed to Saturday morning like some teams was advantageous for the squad according to Jones.
“We were happy to play tonight, it’s nice to sleep in, in the morning,” said the skip. “We kind of gave a game away earlier and it was nice to get back on the ice and play well.”
Renee Sonnenberg’s Grand Prairie, AB rink beat Silvana Tirinzoni, another Swiss team, 4-1, in a tiebreaker to make it to the quarterfinals alongside Jones.
Brier champ Brad Jacobs came back after last night’s loss to John Epping with a 5-4 win over Alberta’s Kevin Koe in an extra end.
“Getting straight into the playoffs was way better than playing a tie-breaker,” said the skip from Sault Ste. Marie. “It means we can get some rest and re-charge the body.”
The Players’ Championship involves Olympic qualification points as well as a big pay day. Currently Jacobs’ crew are neck and neck with Epping and Brad Gushue for the last trial spot.
“The Olympic points are obviously excellent,” he said. “To be honest with you, we all talked about it before coming here, and we were all like ‘The money is what we’re going after.’
“The points are great, but we can’t control what those other teams do and they’re right on our tail. So we’re just trying to make as much money as we can and we’ll see where the points fall at the end of the week.”
Winning the Players’ Championship would be the perfect end to a terrific season for Jacobs and his rink.
“It’s harder to win this then it is to win the Brier,” he said.
In other action, Alberta’s Kevin Martin missed a take-out in the last end and lost to Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton 5-4. Martin will now have to play in a tiebreaker tomorrow against Epping.
A battle of the only two undefeated teams on the men’s side was won by Glenn Howard over Mike McEwen, 5-3. Both are from Ontario and both will be heading to the quarters tomorrow.
Heather Nedohin’s Alberta rink will square off against the Russian squad led by Anna Sidorova while Ontario’s Chelsea Carey will face Alberta’s Laura Crocker in the other women’s tiebreakers on Saturday morning.