FREDERICTON — 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.
Bottcher is competing with a new-look team that includes Brett Gallant, Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert.
In the remaining Draw 1 games, Glenn Howard defeated Felix Asselin 11-2, Matt Dunstone took a 15-2 win over Greg Smith and Colton Flasch won 6-5 in extra ends over Karsten Sturmay.
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.
Jones has a new-look squad this season. Karlee Burgess played third in the opening game with Mackenzie Zacharias at second and Lauren Lenentine at lead.
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.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2022.
The Canadian Press
