Canada’s Kerri Einarson closed out women’s round-robin play at the 2023 Pan Continental Curling Championships with a 17-1 victory over Mexico on Thursday in Kelowna, B.C.
The four-time defending national champions from Gimli, Man., scored five in the first end and added five more points in the third.
Canadian steals of three in the fourth and fifth ends, along with another single in the sixth, prompted the Mexican side skipped by Adriana Camarena to shake ends.
Einarson’s crew concluded the round robin at 4-3 and was scheduled to face South Korea’s Eunji Gim in a semifinal later Thursday.
Mexico, which concluded at 1-6, played with only three players as vice-skip Estefana Quintero was out with an injury.
Brad Gushue’s team from St. John’s capped its men’s round-robin schedule with an 11-1 rout of Guyana’s Rayad Husain (0-7).
“The focus for us in the first couple ends was to go out and play strong, get some rocks in play, make some good shots and hopefully get a bit of a lead,” Gushue said. “We did that and I thought we played pretty well.”
Gushue was tied with Japan’s Riku Yanagisawa at 6-1 but Canada secured the top seed thanks to its head-to-head record.
Canada will play American Andrew Stopera (4-3) in Friday’s semifinals. The world championship qualifier continues through Saturday at the Kelowna Curling Club.
Canada has already secured berths in the world championships later this season.
