The opening round of the Scotties in Moose Jaw saw Saskatchewan’s Robyn Silvernagle rink defeat Andrea Crawford of New Brunswick 6-4.
It was a game where Silvernagle opened with a conservative approach that Crawford willingly followed. The opening three ends were dominated by exchanges of takeouts.
There would have been no scoring except that Crawford, attempting to blank, stuck her take out on her final shot of the first end.
It was a foreshadowing of the game for Crawford’s team. Missed shots, sometimes open shots, cost them dearly.
In the ffith end, their last three shots were all narrow. When Crawford rubbed on her final shot, Saskatchewan had a steal of three and control of the game. Crawford said she was not positive enough with her shot and it curled a bit more than she wanted.
In the sixth end Crawford over-compensated and was outside on an attempted takeout for a blank. She flashed and Silvernagle had a steal.
In the seventh, Saskatchewan stayed conservative. With two in the house already, Silvernagle chose not to go for the steal. Instead, she took out a corner guard. Stephanie said they were set on their game plan. Peeling the guard ultimately allowed New Brunswick to get a point.
The eighth end saw Saskatchewan with another major decision. With a choice between going after the highest of two guards or making a takeout in the house to be counting two they, after a timeout, went after the guard. Lawton said they thought the guards were their greatest danger and their coach, Pat Simmons, concurred. While they took away the corner guards Crawford had a choice on her last shot for a takeout to lay three or to draw down to her shot rock. She said they needed the steal so they went for the draw and she put her last rock right on top of shot. Silvernagle was forced to try drawing the button and was not close.
The ninth was the pivotal end. On Crawford’s first shot she made a double and rolled partly under cover. Silvernagle was a touch outside and heavy on her draw.
On her final shot Crawford, trying for a tap, was a touch outside and rubbed. As she settled for her shot Crawford said her front end reminded her to get out to the broom. She said the talking did not distract her as they always have a conversation. She did say she ended up being afraid of doing something wrong rather than focusing on the shot.
In a bit of an unusual scenario, Silvernagle was not in the house to see the rocks and talk to Lawton. She had stayed up the ice to be ready to throw her next rock. Lawton said they were getting short of time so Silvernagle was saving time by not coming to the house to set up the shot.
It meant Lawton first called the shot. Her thought was a draw that would have been for a single. Silvernagle said she wanted to play a delicate tap that could score a pair. In a fine example of a third deferring to the skip and not being a distraction Lawton never sought to have a conversation or use their final timeout. She put the broom down for the tap. Silvernagle made a brilliant shot getting to the inside to tap out the Crawford rock and score the deuce.
Lawton said it was a special moment after that shot as the hometown crowd went wild. A roar went through the arena unlike the reaction to any other shot Saturday afternoon. They got a chance to relish in playing in their home province.
Saskatchewan showed their hitting skill in the 10th end. With New Brunswick drawing behind cover Lawton on her first shot and Silvernagle on both her shots made runback takeouts. Crawford said Saskatchewan just made all the shots in the 10th.
With the ice very straight on takeouts on opening day runbacks were readily available.
If the game comes down to hits Saskatchewan is in good shape.
Bill Selnes, who’s based in Melfort, has written about sports since the late 1970s.
