Skip Kayla Skrlik delivers her rock to second, Ashton Skrlik, left, and lead Geri-lynn Ramsay against Team Carey at the PointsBet Invitational in Calgary on Sept. 27, 2024.Michael Burns/The Canadian Press
CALGARY — Kayla Skrlik advanced to the women’s semifinals of the PointsBet Invitational with an 8-6 upset of second seed Chelsea Carey on Friday.
Skrlik’s Calgary foursome started with a three-point opening end. After Carey responded with two points in the second, Skrlik took control of the match with two in the third and a steal of one in the fourth.
Trailing by four points entering the ninth end, Carey scored a point then followed with a steal of one, but wasn’t able to close the gap.
Winnipeg’s Carey is in her first season skipping her team after taking it over from the legendary Jennifer Jones.
“I would say it’s an upset, yeah,” said Skrlik. “We’re really rolling this season with lots of games under our belt compared to Chelsea with the new team, so we were pretty confident going into this one.”
Skrlik will face Winnipeg’s Kate Cameron in Saturday’s semifinals. Cameron advanced with a 12-3 win over Allyson MacNutt of Halifax.
MacNutt had posted the first major upset of the tournament on Thursday with an 8-6 win over four-time Canadian champion Kerri Einarson.
“[Team MacNutt] is so great and they’re so close to making a lot of really great shots out there,” said Cameron. “I think they just, unfortunately, were on the wrong side of that inch. They played a lot better than the scoreboard shows.”
The other women’s semifinal sees top seed and defending champion Rachel Homan of Ottawa facing Winnipeg’s Kaitlyn Lawes.
Homan defeated Corryn Brown of Kamloops, B.C., 8-4 while Lawes downed Edmonton’s Selena Sturmay 6-4.
Team Gushue easily advanced to the semifinals with a 10-4 win on Friday night over Team Kleiter. Skip Brad Gushue, with third Mark Nichols, second E.J. Harnden and lead Geoff Walker, scored two in the first end, gave up one in the second, then rattled off deuces in the third, fourth and fifth ends to put the game out of reach for Rylan Kleiter’s foursome.
Gushue’s St. John’s crew will meet Jordon McDonald’s Winnipeg-based team in the semifinals after McDonald knocked off Kevin Koe’s Calgary foursome 8-4.
Mike McEwen’s Saskatchewan squad punched its ticket to the semifinal with a convincing 10-3 win over Felix Asselin of Quebec. McEwen will meet Brad Jacobs’ Calgary-based crew in the semis. Jacobs defeated Owen Purcell’s Halifax team 6-2.
The single-knockout tournament offers more than $350,000 in prize money.