Jones, Bottcher win opening games with new-look teams at PointsBet Invitational
Einarson, Howard, Rocque, Sturmay also pick up victories at Fredericton tournament
Brendan Bottcher earned an 11-3 win over Landan Rooney Wednesday in the first round of the PointsBet Invitational.
The second seed closed the game scoring six points between the sixth and eighth ends after being up 5-3.
- CBC Sports' That Curling Show, hosted by Devin Heroux and Colleen Jones, returns Thursday at 9 p.m. ET live on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Brett Gallant will join as the crew discusses all the new Canadian rinks as well as the inaugural mixed doubles curling series.
Bottcher is competing with a new-look team that includes Brett Gallant, Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert.
Earlier in the day, Jennifer Jones defeated Andrea Kelly 9-5 in women's first-round play.
The six-time Canadian women's curling champion iced the victory with three points in the ninth end.
The loss eliminated Kelly from the single-knockout competition, a new addition to the Season of Champions calendar.
In other Draw 1 games, top-seeded Kerri Einarson dumped Tracey Larocque 12-3, Kelsey Rocque topped Christina Black 8-6 and Selena Sturmay upset Chelsea Carey 10-6.
Play continues through Sunday.
With files from CBC Sports
