For the second year in a row, Krista McCarville's Northern Ontario rink was defeated by Chelsea Carey's Alberta rink with a medal at stake.
The McCarville rink seemed to have Carey's number at this year's Scotties, beating them in the round robin (8-4) and in the 3 vs 4 page playoff (8-1), but it was Carey and her Glencoe Club rink out of Calgary who got the job done when the medals were on the line.
The reigning Scotties champions claimed bronze in a 7-4 victory, while the Northern Ontario ladies will have to settle for fourth.
What started out as cagey contest quickly derailed for Team Northern Ontario as team Carey surged in the sixth and seventh ends to put the game out of reach.
The teams traded single points in ends one and two, before blanking ends three and four. McCarville scored a single in the fifth to go up 2-1, and then Carey's rink stormed back.
Team Canada put a three on the scoreboard in the sixth to go up 4-2, and then stole two more points in the seventh to go up 6-2, and just like that, team Northern Ontario were in a big hole with just three ends to play.
Northern Ontario answered back with a deuce in the eighth end to close the score to 6-4, but Carey responded with another single in the ninth to push the score to 7-4.
The tenth end was conceded before McCarville threw her final stone, as the Carey rink simply ran the Northern Ontario ladies out of rocks, en route to winning bronze.
The Scotties Tournament of Hearts final will go tonight as Rachel Homan's Ontario rink will look to repeat Carey's accomplishment of beating the team that has beaten them twice this tournament, when they take on Michelle Englot's Manitoba rink.
Manitoba beat Ontario 9-5 in the round robin, and downed them again by a score of 9-8 in the 1 vs 2 page playoff to earn a spot in the finals.
Action gets underway at 7:30 p.m.
