Grandy wins Mercure Perth Masters
In the women's event Clancy Grandy claimed her second Perth Masters title and her first as skip, having been part of another visiting Canadian line-up which won the event seven years ago.
In the semifinals, Grandy defeated Inglis 7-4 to advance to the final after winning 7-0 over Lucy Blair (Stirling, SCO) in the quarterfinals.
Fori Grandy and her team of Kayla McMillan, Lindsay Dubue and Sarah Lokken, the season has been a grind, posting a 23-28 record after breaking out last season. Grandy started the year as the 11th ranking team on the WCF World Team Rankings dropping to 28th coming into this weekend.
The results have been a struggle with four playoff appearances, all ending in quarterfinals finishes.
The win at the Mercure Perth Masters comes at the right time as the team heads into the BC Scotties at the end of January.
In their opening game, Grandy defeated Yaroslava Kalinichenko (Kyiv, Ukraine) 13-1, then won 9-1 against Fran Stretton (Perth, SCO) and 7-4 against Lockhart. Grandy won 5-3 against Torhild Bjoernstad (Oppdal, NOR) and then lost 6-1 to Scotland's Rebecca Morrison in their final qualifying round match.
They had lost to the top ranked Scots in the pool stages, but Team Morrison's run had come to a surprise end in the semi-finals when they were beaten by 2002 World Championship winning skip Jackie Lockhart as she and her team rolled back the years.
A third match of the day proved one too many for the veterans as they suffered an 8-3 defeat, but Lockhart was satisfied with the way they had performed.
"Me and my senior team are so chuffed that we made it to the final," she said.
"We made it to the quarters last year and we were ecstatic, so to do two better and make it to the finals.
"We lost it but we have nothing but admiration for the young teams that we are playing against.
"We are using this for practice for our senior ladies team and it is great to have an international here in Perth, so no complaints and we are very happy with our performance here this weekend."
For Lockhart it was also an opportunity to do some homework in her regular role as a television commentator and she was impressed with what she saw from the up-and-coming Scottish women, including world number 13 ranked Team Morrison, who had beaten them in the pool stages ahead of that semi-final upset.
"There is huge pressure on the programme teams and they play a lot and are training every day so they probably feel the pressure more and feel the need to win the medals and I empathise with that at the end of my career I was also doing that before I stopped, so I have great admiration for them and that is their dream, so they need to pursue that," she said.
"They also need to play teams like us that don't always play the game the way they do now to make it difficult for them as it will always make them better players.
"I am really impressed with the womens teams in Scotland just now. We got lucky today and read the ice really well, but the girls are so good now with the ticking shots and peeling shots and how they play.
"The game has changed massively since my day. These girls play the push, touch and the delivery is impressive to see and I think our Scottish teams are on the up and playing in all the Slams and getting so much experience at that level I am really looking forward to seeing what happens at Milan Cortina.
"It is about how you hold your nerve at these big competitions and they are getting the best preparation for that."
In the semifinals, Grandy defeated Inglis 7-4 to advance to the final after winning 7-0 over Lucy Blair (Stirling, SCO) in the quarterfinals.
Fori Grandy and her team of Kayla McMillan, Lindsay Dubue and Sarah Lokken, the season has been a grind, posting a 23-28 record after breaking out last season. Grandy started the year as the 11th ranking team on the WCF World Team Rankings dropping to 28th coming into this weekend.
The results have been a struggle with four playoff appearances, all ending in quarterfinals finishes.
The win at the Mercure Perth Masters comes at the right time as the team heads into the BC Scotties at the end of January.
In their opening game, Grandy defeated Yaroslava Kalinichenko (Kyiv, Ukraine) 13-1, then won 9-1 against Fran Stretton (Perth, SCO) and 7-4 against Lockhart. Grandy won 5-3 against Torhild Bjoernstad (Oppdal, NOR) and then lost 6-1 to Scotland's Rebecca Morrison in their final qualifying round match.
They had lost to the top ranked Scots in the pool stages, but Team Morrison's run had come to a surprise end in the semi-finals when they were beaten by 2002 World Championship winning skip Jackie Lockhart as she and her team rolled back the years.
A third match of the day proved one too many for the veterans as they suffered an 8-3 defeat, but Lockhart was satisfied with the way they had performed.
"Me and my senior team are so chuffed that we made it to the final," she said.
"We made it to the quarters last year and we were ecstatic, so to do two better and make it to the finals.
"We lost it but we have nothing but admiration for the young teams that we are playing against.
"We are using this for practice for our senior ladies team and it is great to have an international here in Perth, so no complaints and we are very happy with our performance here this weekend."
For Lockhart it was also an opportunity to do some homework in her regular role as a television commentator and she was impressed with what she saw from the up-and-coming Scottish women, including world number 13 ranked Team Morrison, who had beaten them in the pool stages ahead of that semi-final upset.
"There is huge pressure on the programme teams and they play a lot and are training every day so they probably feel the pressure more and feel the need to win the medals and I empathise with that at the end of my career I was also doing that before I stopped, so I have great admiration for them and that is their dream, so they need to pursue that," she said.
"They also need to play teams like us that don't always play the game the way they do now to make it difficult for them as it will always make them better players.
"I am really impressed with the womens teams in Scotland just now. We got lucky today and read the ice really well, but the girls are so good now with the ticking shots and peeling shots and how they play.
"The game has changed massively since my day. These girls play the push, touch and the delivery is impressive to see and I think our Scottish teams are on the up and playing in all the Slams and getting so much experience at that level I am really looking forward to seeing what happens at Milan Cortina.
"It is about how you hold your nerve at these big competitions and they are getting the best preparation for that."