Curling Canada – PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, MAN. — Chelsea Carey (Calgary) and Colin Hodgson (Winnipeg) were resilient in their extra-end tiebreaker victory against Nancy Martin (Saskatoon) and Catlin Schneider (Regina) at the 2018 Canad Inns Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials.

The best friends missed a shot that should have ended the game in the eighth end, but picked up two in the extra to win 9-7 to nail down the eighth and final playoff position at Stride Place.

Leading 7-6 in the eighth, Carey had a board-weight hit for the win. She called Hodgson on to sweep, which kept the rock on a straighter path. The shot rolled too far and provided Martin/Schneider with a steal of one to force the extra end. But Carey and Hodgson brushed it off and finished the job in the extra end at Stride Place.

“That’s where being such close friend really helps. We just kind of support each other,” Carey said. “He pats me on the back and I pat him on the back and we just go okay let’s move onto the next one. We played a good solid end in the extra and that’s what we needed to do.”

The win secures Carey and Hodgson’s eighth seed in the playoffs. Carey, the 2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion, will take on her teammate Jocelyn Peterman and partner Brett Gallant in the first game of the double-knockout playoffs. Peterman and Gallant are the top-seeded team at the 2018 Canad Inns Canadian Mixed Doubles Trials.

Martin and Schneider’s loss ends their pursuit of representing Canada in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

“We came out here this morning and played pretty well. We were on the wrong side of the rock a couple times, but that’s how curling goes. You’ve got to take from it and learn and move on and hopefully you’re better next time,” Schneider said.

Martin/Schneider opened the first end with a textbook deuce for a 2-0 lead. In the second end Carey had a hit for three, giving her team a 3-2 lead. In the third Martin/Schneider took advantage of an opportunity for two. It wasn’t an easy shot by any means – a quiet weight hit for two where the shooter could not roll too far away from the eight foot – and she nailed it to regain a 4-3 lead. But Carey and Hodgson took back the lead in the fourth with a draw for three.

In the fifth Carey and Hodsgon lined up three rocks in the four-foot. Martin’s angles were just right to remove two of them, but they gave up a steal of one. Trailing 7-4, Martin/Schneider went on the power play in the sixth. While play focused on the wings at the start, it transitioned back to the button. Martin had an opportunity to score two on an outturn draw, but was heavy. It was a missed opportunity and they trailed 7-5. However, the team set up a steal of one in the seventh to get within one at 7-6.

The first round of the playoffs is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT. In addition to the Carey/Hodgson (8) and Peterman/Gallant (1) game, Crocker/Walker (2) play Sweeting/Gushue (7), Jones/Nichols (3) take on Officer/Carruthers (6), and Ferguson/Bottcher (4) are up against Lawes/Morris (5).

Another playoff round is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2018 Canad Inns Canadian Mixed Doubles Trials are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/

CBC Sports is providing streaming coverage of the 2018 Canad Inns Canadian Mixed Doubles Trials round-robin draw, with playoff games being broadcast on CBC Sports TV. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.

For ticket information for the 2018 Canad Inns Canadian Mixed Doubles Trials, CLICK HERE.

This story will be posted in French as soon as possible at http://www.curling.ca/?lang=fr

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Al Cameron
Director, Communication & Media Relations
Curling Canada
(403) 463-5500
acameron@curling.ca