Sportsnet.ca http://sportsnet.ca/curling/feed/ Tue, 19 Mar 2024 13:48:06 EDT en-US hourly 1 Curling Featured Thu, 07 Sep 2023 17:57:20 EDT Wed, 10 Jan 2024 09:46:07 EST Noah Love four_cols_meta sn-collection homan Canada’s Homan improves to 4-0 at women’s worlds 5747215 four_cols Mon, 18 Mar 2024 16:17:45 EDT Mon, 18 Mar 2024 21:40:09 EDT Canadian Press Canada’s Rachel Homan continued to roll at the women’s world curling championship with a 9-4 win Monday over Norway’s Marianne Roervik.

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SYDNEY, N.S. — Canada’s Rachel Homan continued to roll at the women’s world curling championship with a 9-4 win Monday over Norway’s Marianne Roervik.

Homan improved to 4-0 after Canada’s lone game of the day at Centre 200. 

Tuesday will be an important day for Homan, vice Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes because they face two undefeated countries.

Homan takes on Italy’s Stefania Constantini (4-0) in the morning and defending champion Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland (5-0) at night.

“They’re two phenomenal teams and we know we will have to bring the same, or more, tomorrow,” Homan said. “I know they’re going to bring their A games, and we’re going to have to do the same.”

Norway shook hands when Homan hit for three points in the eighth end Monday. 

After blanking the third, Homan’s shot stone on the button had opposing stones above and below in the fourth. Canada’s sweepers Miskew and Wilkes dragged Homan’s draw and curled it to the four-foot rings for another deuce and a 4-1 lead.

“Really well swept,” the skip said. “Tracy’s reading the line really good and called a good one there. Definitely a huge shot we needed to make sure we scored because it was looking like a steal for a while there.

“We’re all making a ton of big shots. It’s been going really good this week and hopefully it can continue.”

Norway countered with its first deuce of the game in the fifth end to trail 4-3. 

Kristin Skaslien, who throws fourth stones for Roervik, navigated guards for a takeout at the back of the rings. A measurement on second stones confirmed Norway’s two points.

But Canada tightened its grip in the sixth end with Homan’s triple takeout to lie three with her first stone. 

Skaslien’s shooter rolling wide left the Canadian skip a draw for a 6-3 lead. 

Canada curled 92 per cent as a team in the game, led by Homan’s 94 per cent.

“(She’s) working really hard and it’s showing,” Miskew said. “The difference this year is we’re all throwing the rock very similar so she knows exactly how she has to throw her stones and trust what we tell her to make every shot. 

“She’ll make anything out there.”

Homan opened the championship with a 7-6 victory over Sweden, a 7-4 defeat of Denmark, and a 10-6 win over the United States.

Norway (2-3) bounced back in Monday’s evening draw with a 11-5 victory in nine ends over Turkey’s Dilsat Yildiz (1-4).

Italy downed Tabitha Peterson of the U.S. 10-3 on Monday afternoon to drop the latter to 2-3.

South Korea’s Eunji Gim (3-1) was a 9-4 winner over Japan’s Miyu Ueno.

Estonia’s Liisa Turman (1-4) went an extra end for a 10-7 win over New Zealand’s Jessica Smith (1-4), but lost 10-9 to Demark (4-1) in the evening draw when Madeleine Dupont counted three in the 10th end.

Tirinzoni stayed unbeaten with an 8-7 decision over Turkey’s Dilsat Yildiz in the morning draw. Switzerland then won its fifth straight by beating Japan (1-4) 10-3 in eight ends in the evening draw. Tirinzoni scored three in the sixth end to go up 7-2, then added another three in the eighth to seal the deal. 

Tirinzoni and teammate Alina Paetz, who throws fourth stones for the Swiss, are looking to become the first women to win five consecutive world championships.

The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 women’s world championship after Tirinzoni was victorious in 2019. Tirinzoni went on to build a run of titles in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

After dropping three straight, Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg got into the win column with a quick, six-end 8-2 decision over New Zealand in the morning. She improved to 2-3 in the evening with a six-end 8-1 win over Scotland’s Rebecca Morrison, who slipped to 1-4. Scotland lost 9-2 to Denmark in seven ends earlier in the day.

The top six teams in the 13-country championship advance to the playoff round. Ties for the playoffs will be solved by head-to-head results.

The top two teams from round-robin play get byes to Saturday’s semifinals. The third-place team will play the sixth and fourth will play fifth in the qualifying-round games that morning.

The winners of the qualifying-round games advance to the semifinals. The semifinal losers will play for the bronze medal Sunday morning. The winners meet for the gold Sunday evening.

Homan won the 2017 world championship in Beijing with Miskew, Joanne Courtney and Lisa Weagle. Jennifer Jones skipped the last Canadian team to win it in 2018 in North Bay, Ont.

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baseimage(22)(1) Homan remains undefeated with win over U.S. at women’s curling worlds 5747215 four_cols Sun, 17 Mar 2024 16:48:53 EDT Sun, 17 Mar 2024 21:25:45 EDT Canadian Press Rachel Homan improved to 3-0 at the world women’s curling championship with a 10-6 victory over the United States’ Tabitha Peterson on Sunday in Sydney, N.S.

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Rachel Homan improved to 3-0 at the world women’s curling championship with a 10-6 victory over the United States’ Tabitha Peterson on Sunday in Sydney, N.S.

Canada entered the contest having earned 7-6 and 7-4 victories over Sweden and Denmark on the opening day of the tournament Saturday.

Rachel Homan improved to 3-0 at the world women’s curling championship with a 10-6 victory over the United States’ Tabitha Peterson on Sunday.

Canada entered the contest having earned 7-6 and 7-4 victories over Sweden and Denmark on Saturday’s first day of action. Homan’s rink is one of three teams that remain undefeated, with Italy and Switzerland each at 3-0. 

“I think we’re gelling together and we’re at our top performance with team cohesion and communication,” Homan said after the game.

“There’s going to be misses as we learn the sheets. It’s tough to play 100 per cent throughout this amazing field, so it’s feeling really good and we’ve got to keep going.”

Sitting atop the tournament leaderboard, the Canadians will look to make it four straight victories when they play Marianne Roervik’s Norway squad on Monday.

“I don’t think anyone could walk through a field like this, just phenomenal teams and athletes, and all the countries’ resources poured into it,” Homan said. “It’s a really great feeling to be able to battle with the best out here and we hope to make Canada proud.”

Without last rock for the first time in the tournament, the Canadians found themselves on their heels early on with the U.S. scoring a double in the first end to go up 2-0. It was the first double Homan’s rink surrendered, and the first time it had trailed in a game at any point in the event.

That lead didn’t last long, though, as Canada took advantage of its first hammer of the game in the second end to thread the rock through a busy right side of the sheet to nudge the U.S. out of the eight and score a double of its own, tying the game at 2-2.

The third end saw the U.S. answer right back, as Peterson perfectly executed a hammer throw while facing two to sneak her stone into the button and earn a single. 

But Canada came rolling back to restore its lead in the fourth end. Taking advantage of a miscue from the U.S., Canada used a perfectly thrown hammer to knock the Americans’ rock completely out of the house and earn a double to flip the score back in its favour at 4-3.

The fifth end brought the fireworks, as a gutsy throw by Homan to set Canada up for another double was undone by a hammer from Peterson with just the right touch on it, sneaking past Canada’s rocks and landing directly into the button for a single.

After it appeared that Canada would only exit the sixth with a single after some smart placement by the Americans, Homan knocked the U.S. out of the house, earning Canada a sorely needed double that put them back ahead 6-4.

The Americans rebounded swiftly in the seventh, as a measurement awarded them a double and sent both teams to the eighth deadlocked at 6-6. 

Canada then blew the game open with a triple to earn its biggest lead of the day at 9-6. After Canada managed its first steal of the game in the ninth, the Americans could not respond, conceding the game.

“We played really good and kept the pressure on them,” Peterson said. “They didn’t really let up and we had a couple of misses late in the game, and it just tipped their way more.”

In Sunday’s evening draw, Peterson rebounded to beat Norway 7-5, Denmark edged Japan 6-5, Switzerlands rocked Estonia 9-3 in six ends, and Italy beat Scotland 8-2 in eight ends.

Round-robin play will run through March 22 and the top six of 13 teams will advance to the playoffs. There will be no tiebreakers, so ties for playoff spots will be broken based on head-to-head results.

The top two teams from round-robin play will be seeded directly into the semifinals on March 23. The third-place team will play the sixth and fourth will play fifth in the qualifying-round games that morning.

The winners of the qualifying-round games will advance to the semifinals. The semifinal losers will play for bronze the morning of March 24, while the winners play in the gold-medal game that evening.

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Anil Mungal/GSOC harris_briane1280 Curler Briane Harris suspended for doping violation 5747215 four_cols Tue, 12 Mar 2024 10:22:04 EDT Tue, 12 Mar 2024 11:53:16 EDT Canadian Press Canadian curler Briane Harris was ineligible to compete in the national women’s championship because she tested positive for a banned substance.

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Canadian curler Briane Harris was ineligible to compete in the national women’s championship because she tested positive for a banned substance.

The 31-year-old from Winnipeg was declared ineligible to compete in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Calgary hours before her team skipped by Kerri Einarson played its opening game Feb. 16.

“Curling Canada was deeply disappointed to receive the news of Briane Harris’s adverse analytical finding on the opening day of the Tournament of Hearts,” reads a statement from Curling Canada. “Our organization is committed to the values of clean and safe sport, as outlined by both the World Anti-Doping Agency and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport. 

“We respect the integrity of the testing process and accept the results of the test, as well as Briane’s right to appeal the findings.”

Harris tested positive for trace amounts of Ligandrol in an out-of-competition doping control test conducted on Jan. 24. She got her positive results on the evening of Feb. 15 and informed Curling Canada on the morning of Feb. 16. 

She asked the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports, the body that conducts doping testing both in competition and outside of competition, to open her B sample and re-test, but again it was found to be positive. 

Curling Canada CEO Nolan Thiessen said that at this point in the process, the sport’s national governing body is a bystander and will abide by any legal ruling on the issue.

“She has her right to due process and the right to appeal,” said Thiessen in a video news conference. “We totally support all of our athletes in any of these situations.”

Ligandrol is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of prohibited substances. It is used to increase energy and muscle growth. According to the United States Doping Agency, there is no medical use for LGD-4033, the developmental code name for Ligandrol.

“As best as can be determined at this time, Ms. Harris was unknowingly exposed to the banned substance through bodily contact,” said Harris’s lawyer Amanda Fowler in a statement. “In the circumstances, Ms. Harris is therefore keen to clear her name and will seek to expedite any process of mechanism to facilitate such vindication.”

The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, will hear the case.

When an athlete provides a urine sample, it is divided into A and B bottles, which gives the athlete a second analysis in the event a banned substance turns up in their A sample.

Harris could face a two-year suspension under CCES regulations, although there is the flexibility to decrease or increase a sanction depending on the facts of a case and the results of tests.

Curling Canada has both a medical doctor and a health and doping control consultant on staff. Athletes taking medications for medical reasons can apply for a medical exemption.

“I think this will naturally put fear in probably a lot of athletes,” said Thiessen, a retired curler who has won three Canadian men’s championships and a world championship. “If I was an athlete playing right now I would start saying how do I go about my day-to-day business and make sure that I stay on-side? That’s all we can ask of everybody.”

A prominent Canadian case of inadvertent doping was rower Silken Laumann testing positive for the stimulant pseudoephedrine at the 1995 Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Canadian officials said the element came from a dose of Benadryl that Laumann took as an antihistamine. She and her teammates were stripped of their quadruple sculls gold medal, but Laumann was allowed to keep her gold in single sculls.

Doping cases in curling are rare, although the Russian husband and wife mixed doubles team of Alexander Krushelnitsky and Anastasia Bryzgalova was stripped of Olympic bronze medals in 2018 after Krushelnitsky tested positive for meldonium.

Ontario curler Joe Frans was suspended two years in 2005 after he tested positive for a cocaine metabolite at the national men’s championship in Edmonton.

Canadian wheelchair curler Jim Armstrong had an 18-month suspension reduced to six after testing positive for Tamoxifen, a breast-cancer drug that also counters the side-effects of steroids, in 2012. 

He said his late wife’s medication was mistakenly mixed with his medications.

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Darren Calabrese/CP homan_rachel1280 2024 World women’s curling championship: Scores, standings and schedule 5747215 four_cols Sat, 16 Mar 2024 11:37:58 EDT Mon, 18 Mar 2024 21:28:35 EDT Sportsnet Staff The 2024 world women’s curling championship runs March 16-24 at Centre 200 in Sydney, N.S. Keep it here throughout the tournament for up-to-date standings and the latest results.

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The 2024 world women’s curling championship runs March 16-24 at Centre 200 in Sydney, N.S.

Rachel Homan represents Canada on home ice after capturing her fourth Scotties Tournament of Hearts title last month.

Keep it here throughout the tournament for up-to-date standings and the latest results.

Last updated: March 18, 9:15 p.m. ET

STANDINGS

COUNTRY

SKIP

WINS

LOSSES

Switzerland

Silvana Tirinzoni

5

0

Canada

Rachel Homan

4

0

Italy

Stefania Constantini

4

0

Denmark

Madeleine Dupont

4

1

South Korea

Eunji Gim

3

1

Norway

Marianne Roervik

2

3

Sweden

Anna Hasselborg

2

3

United States

Tabitha Peterson

2

3

Estonia

Liisa Turmann

1

4

Japan

Miyu Ueno

1

4

New Zealand

Jessica Smith

1

4

Scotland

Rebecca Morrison

1

4

Türkiye

Dilsat Yildiz

1

4

Note: The top six teams advance to the playoffs, with the top two teams receiving byes to the semifinals. Any ties in the standings are decided by head-to-head records, followed by draw-to-the-button shootout scores.

SCHEDULE/RESULTS

Draw 1: Saturday, March 16, 2 p.m. AT / 1 p.m. ET

• United States 8, Türkiye 4
• Canada 7, Sweden 6
• Japan 8, New Zealand 6
• Switzerland 7, South Korea 4

Draw 2: Saturday, March 16, 7 p.m. AT / 6 p.m. ET

• Italy 8, Estonia 4
• Switzerland 10, United States 3
• Scotland 6, Norway 4
• Canada 7, Denmark 4

Draw 3: Sunday, March 17, 9 a.m. AT / 8 a.m. ET

• Norway 8, Sweden 7
• South Korea 9, Estonia 6
• Denmark 10, Türkiye 4
• New Zealand 8, Scotland 6

Draw 4: Sunday, March 17, 2 p.m. AT / 1 p.m. ET

• South Korea 12, New Zealand 4
• Türkiye 6, Japan 4
• Canada 10, United States 6
• Italy 6, Sweden 4

Draw 5: Sunday, March 17, 7 p.m. AT / 6 p.m. ET

• Denmark 6, Japan 5
• Italy 8, Scotland 2
• Switzerland 9, Estonia 3
• United States 7, Norway 5

Draw 6: Monday, March 18, 9 a.m. AT / 8 a.m. ET

• Switzerland 8, Türkiye 7
• Sweden 8, New Zealand 2
• Denmark 9, Scotland 2

Draw 7: Monday, March 18, 2 p.m. AT / 1 p.m. ET

• Estonia 10, New Zealand 7
• Canada 9, Norway 4
• Italy 10, United States 3
• South Korea 9, Japan 4

Draw 8: Monday, March 18, 7 p.m. AT / 6 p.m. ET

• Sweden 8, Scotland 1
• Switzerland 10, Japan 3
• Norway 11, Türkiye 5
• Denmark 10, Estonia 9

Draw 9: Tuesday, March 19, 9 a.m. AT / 8 a.m. ET

• Sweden vs. Türkiye
• South Korea vs. Scotland
• Canada vs. Italy

Draw 10: Tuesday, March 19, 2 p.m. AT / 1 p.m. ET

• Japan vs. Estonia
• United States vs. Denmark
• Italy vs. New Zealand
• Switzerland vs. Norway

Draw 11: Tuesday, March 19, 7 p.m. AT / 6 p.m. ET

• Canada vs. Switzerland
• Scotland vs. Estonia
• Sweden vs. Denmark
• South Korea vs. Türkiye

Draw 12: Wednesday, March 20, 9 a.m. AT / 8 a.m. ET

• Norway vs. New Zealand
• South Korea vs. Italy
• Canada vs. Japan
• Sweden vs. United States

Draw 13: Wednesday, March 20, 2 p.m. AT / 1 p.m. ET

• Italy vs. Denmark
• Norway vs. Japan
• Estonia vs. Türkiye
• Switzerland vs. Scotland

Draw 14: Wednesday, March 20, 7 p.m. AT / 6 p.m. ET

• South Korea vs. Sweden
• Canada vs. Türkiye
• Scotland vs. United States
• Denmark vs. New Zealand

Draw 15: Thursday, March 21, 9 a.m. AT / 8 a.m. ET

• United States vs. Japan
• Switzerland vs. New Zealand
• Italy vs. Norway
• Canada vs. Estonia

Draw 16: Thursday, March 21, 2 p.m. AT / 1 p.m. ET

• Scotland vs. Türkiye
• Sweden vs. Estonia
• Switzerland vs. Denmark
• South Korea vs. Norway

Draw 17: Thursday, March 21, 7 p.m. AT / 6 p.m. ET

• Canada vs. New Zealand
• South Korea vs. United States
• Sweden vs. Japan
• Italy vs. Türkiye

Draw 18: Friday, March 22, 9 a.m. AT / 8 a.m. ET

• Switzerland vs. Italy
• Norway vs. Denmark
• United States vs. Estonia
• Scotland vs. Japan

Draw 19: Friday, March 22, 2 p.m. AT / 1 p.m. ET

• South Korea vs. Denmark
• Canada vs. Scotland
• Türkiye vs. New Zealand
• Switzerland vs. Sweden

Draw 20: Friday, March 22, 7 p.m. AT / 6 p.m. ET

• Norway vs. Estonia
• Italy vs. Japan
• Canada vs. South Korea
• United States vs. New Zealand

Qualification Round: Saturday, March 23, 11 a.m. AT / 10 a.m. ET

• TBD

Semifinals: Saturday, March 23, 5 p.m. AT / 4 p.m. ET

• TBD

Bronze Medal Game: Sunday, March 24, 11 a.m. AT / 10 a.m. ET

• TBD

Gold Medal Game: Sunday, March 24, 5 p.m. AT / 4 p.m. ET

• TBD

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Curling Headlines Thu, 07 Sep 2023 17:58:03 EDT Tue, 19 Dec 2023 20:32:37 EST Noah Love headlines_meta sn-collection Jeff McIntosh/CP Muyres Walker, Muyres stay undefeated at Canadian mixed doubles curling championship 5747217 headlines Mon, 18 Mar 2024 18:37:08 EDT Mon, 18 Mar 2024 18:37:42 EDT Associated Press Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres earned a 9-3 win over Jasmin Gibeau and Audrey Laplante to improve to 3-0 at the Canadian mixed doubles curling championship Monday.

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Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres earned a 9-3 win over Jasmin Gibeau and Audrey Laplante to improve to 3-0 at the Canadian mixed doubles curling championship Monday.

Walker and Muyres, Curling Canada’s top-ranked duo this season, started strong with seven points over the first four ends in the late afternoon draw.

Gibeau and Laplante (0-3) managed to get three back in the next two ends, but conceded after giving up another two points in the seventh. 

Walker and Muyres represented Canada at the 2018 world championship and earned a bronze medal in Ostersund, Sweden.

Andrea Kelly and Tyler Tardi also moved to 3-0 with a 9-6 win over Chaelynn Kitz and Brayden Stewart (1-2). 

Tardi was a mixed doubles semifinalist last year with teammate Rachel Homan, who is currently competing in the world women’s championship in Sydney, N.S.

Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, the 2019 national champions and world silver medallists, looked to join the front-running 3-0 teams when they faced Jennifer Armstrong and Tyrel Griffith on Monday evening.

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Darryl Dyck/CP Gushue ‘He’s clutch’: Gushue’s heroics lead Canada to third straight Brier title 5747217 headlines Mon, 11 Mar 2024 00:33:47 EDT Mon, 11 Mar 2024 00:34:59 EDT Kristina Rutherford Brad Gushue’s clutch shot making provided the turning point on Sunday night, as the decorated skipper from Newfoundland led his Team Canada to a third straight Brier title, and an incredible sixth championship in eight years.

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REGINA — Just when it looked like the home Team Saskatchewan was going to orchestrate a comeback for the ages, Brad Gushue nailed a takeout to stick a double and score a pair out of near-thin air, and the veteran skipper pumped his fist and yelled: “Yeah! Come on!”

This was the turning point on Sunday night at the Brandt Centre, as the decorated skipper from Newfoundland led his Team Canada to a third straight Brier title, an incredible sixth championship in eight years for Gushue and his long-time teammates Mark Nichols and Geoff Walker, and a third win for second, E.J. Harnden. 

“This moment is what it’s all about,” a smiling Gushue said after a 9-5 win in nine ends, while Tina Turner’s Simply the Best appropriately blasted over the arena speakers. “This is why I play. This is why I love the game. And I love this moment, to see it all come to fruition after the hard work this week. It’s so cool. And it isn’t about how many, it’s about this moment here.”

Well, for a moment let’s consider how many: Six in all, tying Randy Ferbey for the most ever. 

And if you ask Nichols, the moment on Sunday came because of what Gushue pulled off in the seventh end, when Saskatchewan could’ve tied things up, but instead Gushue scored two to extend their lead to three. “It’s one of the better — I mean, I’ve been spoiled for 20 years, I get to watch it all the time — he makes all of them and it’s like, ‘oh yeah, here’s another one,’” Nichols said. “And he did it. He saved us in seven.” 

Leave it to Gushue to spoil the hometown, feel-good, drought-ending fairy tale and deny Saskatchewan its first Brier championship in 44 years on home ice, instead authoring the story to lead his team to yet another gold medal. 

And what a fight Team Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen, Colton Flasch and twin brothers Dan and Kevin Marsh put up, at home, in front of 5,734 appreciative fans who rang their cowbells and wore their Roughriders green and waved their yellow and green flags and cheered their “Let’s go Saskatchewan!” cheers. 

It didn’t get off to a great start for the home team, and they struggled with ice conditions that were different from their semi-final earlier Sunday. “We kind of came out a little bit flat,” as Kevin Marsh, Saskatchewan’s second, put it.

“It hurts we didn’t have our best game,” McEwen said. “Tough conditions. I think you could tell that both teams were struggling with the ice, but Brad was stellar, you know, the first four ends. He nailed us the first four ends.” 

Particularly in the fourth. That’s when Gushue expertly orchestrated a tough split, nudging a rock that was just outside the rings to just inside, while the shooter also rolled in to join another for three. The 43-year-old skip from St. John’s somehow made it look easy. 

At the halfway mark, Canada was up 5-1. Saskatchewan was in need of magic, and the home team delivered. 

In the sixth, Flasch, the Saskatchewan third, set the table for a steal after a couple of misses from Canada. Saskatchewan was sitting two, and McEwen floated in a perfect draw to make it three. That sent this crowd into an absolute clapping, cowbell-ringing tizzy. 

Gushue’s last, he nudged an outside Saskatchewan stone, and Canada had definitely given up at least two. As the measuring stick came out, the crowd chanted: “Three! Three! Three! Three!” The measure showed it was a steal of just two, by just a hair. 

“We were a whisker from stealing three on that measure, that would have tied the game,” McEwen said. 

Instead, Saskatchewan was down 5-4 heading into the seventh, and looked to have something cooking there for another steal, but that’s when Gushue got his team out of trouble with a takeout to stick two and take a 7-4 lead to put the game away. 

Walker, Team Canada’s lead, didn’t pause for even a second when asked what his favourite thing is about his long-time skip and friend: “He’s clutch,” Walker said, grinning. Indeed, Gushue is. 

When it was over, the Team Canada skip threw both arms in the air while the crowd roared. 

As McEwen slid down the ice to join his teammates and get his silver medal — his best-ever finish here at the Brier, in his 10th appearance — the crowd stood and cheered for their import skip. 

McEwen, 43, said that earlier Sunday, he made a long list of all the people he was playing for, and it included the many fans in green here. “So was it pressure for me?” McEwen asked. “It was an honour. And that’s truly what this week was for us. It was an honour to play here.” 

Sunday’s final truly was a storybook final matchup, to have Team Canada looking for a three-peat up against the host Saskatchewan, ranked sixth in the country, the team looking to end a drought at home, where the Marsh twins and Flasch are all from. Saskatchewan was led by their import Winnipeg-born skip who fell out of love with curling not long ago and came here back in love with the game and looking for a life-changing first title in his first season wearing green, in front of fans who treated him like he was one of their own. 

It was McEwen who got the loudest cheers from fans in the building Sunday night when the teams were introduced. One group wore green t-shirts on that read: Mc-E-W-E-N, and another held up a “Magic Mike!” sign. They sure do like the out-of-towner. And it was just six months ago that this Team Saskatchewan was put together, and they made it all the way to the title game, and put up an admirable fight. 

“We have everything to be proud of, what we did in six months,” McEwen said. “This is a great team and we’re not done yet.” 

Up next for Gushue and Team Canada is the world championships later this month in Switzerland, where the team will represent the country for a third straight year. 

“We were knocking our heads for so long to win one, and now to say we’ve got six, E.J.’s got three, man it’s been wild,” Nichols said. With this sixth Brier title, he, Gushue and Walker are now tied for the most all-time, with Randy Ferbey. 

Nichols repeated more than a couple of times just how lucky he is to have had a front-row seat to Gushue’s magic over the last two decades. 

“He’s just good under pressure. It’s the years of experience and knowing kind of how to throw it and where to miss and what to make. But he’s just so cool and calm under pressure, he just loves this atmosphere, he loves this championship. He wants to win so bad, and nothing fazes him,” Nichols said. “It’s fun to watch.”

As Gushue stood smiling on the blue carpet when it was all over, he said he wasn’t sure he’d be standing here a champion. After all, his team started off 2-2 in the round robin and he swears their confidence was low. But they got here, and he thought this championship was slipping away after the sixth end. Then, of course, the skip pulled off that magical deuce in the seventh. 

“We made four brutal mistakes in the sixth end really left ourselves no shot, and I could see my team speeding up a little bit,” Gushue said. “They were moving a little faster, and I wanted to slow it down, and I figured if I can make my two shots in seven, I was going to show a little bit of emotion to get them fired up. And it worked.”

It did. And now Gushue and co. are champions again. 

“It feels awesome,” Gushue said. “Just awesome.”

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Darryl Dyck/CP gushue_brad1280 2024 Montana’s Brier tracker: Scores, standings and schedule 5747217 headlines Fri, 01 Mar 2024 09:21:59 EST Sun, 10 Mar 2024 22:48:04 EDT Sportsnet Staff The top Canadian men’s curling team will be crowned at the Montana’s Brier running March 1-10 in Regina. Follow along with the standings, schedule and results.

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Brad Gushue captured a third consecutive Brier championship after defeating Mike McEwen 9-5 during Sunday’s final at the Brandt Centre in Regina.

Gushue will represent Canada at the world men’s curling championship, March 30 to April 7, in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, and will return to next year’s Brier as the defending champion.

Here’s how it all went down.

Last Updated: March 10, 10:45 p.m. ET

FINAL ROUND-ROBIN STANDINGS

Pool A

Team

Skip

Wins

Losses

Manitoba

Reid Carruthers

7

1

Alberta

Brendan Bottcher

6

2

Manitoba

Matt Dunstone

6

2

Northern Ontario

Trevor Bonot

5

3

British Columbia

Catlin Schneider

4

4

Ontario

Scott Howard

3

5

Newfoundland and Labrador

Andrew Symonds

2

6

Yukon

Thomas Scoffin

2

6

New Brunswick

James Grattan

1

7

Pool B

Team

Skip

Wins

Losses

Saskatchewan

Mike McEwen

7

1

Canada

Brad Gushue

6

2

Northwest Territories

Jamie Koe

5

3

Prince Edward Island

Tyler Smith

5

3

Nova Scotia

Matthew Manuel

4

4

Alberta

Aaron Sluchinski

4

4

Quebec

Julien Tremblay

2

6

Alberta

Kevin Koe

2

6

Nunavut

Shane Latimer

1

7

Note: The top three teams from each pool will advance to the playoffsTies in the standings are solved by head-to-head results followed by draw-to-the-button totals.

SCHEDULE/RESULTS

Draw 1: Friday, March 1, 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT

• Canada 7, Nova Scotia 4
• Saskatchewan 7, Prince Edward Island 6
• Alberta (Sluchinski) 8, Alberta (Koe) 4
• Northwest Territories 7, Quebec 4

Draw 2: Saturday, March 2, 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT

• Ontario 7, British Columbia 5
• Manitoba (Carruthers) 7, Manitoba (Dunstone) 5
• Northern Ontario 9, New Brunswick 4
• Alberta (Bottcher) 11, Newfoundland and Labrador 3

Draw 3: Saturday, March 2, 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT

• Quebec 11, Nunavut 4
• Alberta (Koe) 8, Northwest Territories 4
• Saskatchewan 7, Canada 6
• Prince Edward Island 11, Nova Scotia 7

Draw 4: Sunday, March 3, 10 a.m. ET / 9 a.m. CT

• Alberta (Bottcher) 8, Yukon 3
• Northern Ontario 7, Newfoundland and Labrador 6
• Manitoba (Carruthers) 7, Ontario 6
• Manitoba (Dunstone) 8, British Columbia 5

Draw 5: Sunday, March 3, 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT

• Saskatchewan 6, Alberta (Koe) 5
• Canada 9, Quebec 7
• Northwest Territories 8, Nova Scotia 7
• Alberta (Sluchinski) 12, Nunavut 10

Draw 6: Sunday, March 3, 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT

• Manitoba (Carruthers) 9, Northern Ontario 8
• Alberta (Bottcher) 8, Ontario 2
• British Columbia 7, Newfoundland and Labrador 2
• Yukon 11, New Brunswick 7

Draw 7: Monday, March 4, 10 a.m. ET / 9 a.m. CT

• Northwest Territories 7, Canada 5
• Nova Scotia 6, Alberta (Sluchinski) 2
• Prince Edward Island 10, Nunavut 3
• Quebec 11, Alberta (Koe) 6

Draw 8: Monday, March 4, 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT

• Ontario 7, Newfoundland and Labrador 3
• British Columbia 6, New Brunswick 3
• Manitoba (Dunstone) 15, Yukon 2
• Northern Ontario 6, Alberta (Bottcher) 5

Draw 9: Monday, March 4, 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT

• Prince Edward Island 8, Alberta (Sluchinski) 5
• Northwest Territories 9, Nunavut 2
• Canada 8, Alberta (Koe) 3
• Nova Scotia 7, Saskatchewan 4

Draw 10: Tuesday, March 5, 10 a.m. ET / 9 a.m. CT

• Manitoba (Dunstone) 9, New Brunswick 6
• Newfoundland and Labrador 6, Yukon 5
• Northern Ontario 10, Ontario 6
• British Columbia 9, Manitoba (Carruthers) 8

Draw 11: Tuesday, March 5, 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT

• Nova Scotia 11, Alberta (Koe) 5
• Saskatchewan 11, Alberta (Sluchinski) 6
• Prince Edward Island 10, Quebec 5
• Canada 8, Nunavut 3

Draw 12: Tuesday, March 5, 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT

• Northern Ontario 7, British Columbia 4
• Manitoba (Carruthers) 7, New Brunswick 3
• Alberta (Bottcher) 7, Manitoba (Dunstone) 5
• Ontario 8, Yukon 3

Draw 13: Wednesday, March 6, 10 a.m. ET / 9 a.m. CT

• Alberta (Sluchinski) 10, Quebec 8
• Canada 11, Prince Edward Island 3
• Nunavut 7, Nova Scotia 5
• Saskatchewan 10, Northwest Territories 2

Draw 14: Wednesday, March 6, 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT

• Alberta (Bottcher) 15, New Brunswick 3
• Manitoba (Dunstone) 8, Ontario 7
• British Columbia 11, Yukon 2
• Manitoba (Carruthers) 6, Newfoundland and Labrador 3

Draw 15: Wednesday, March 6, 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT

• Saskatchewan 9, Nunavut 3
• Nova Scotia 6, Quebec 5
• Alberta (Sluchinski) 10, Northwest Territories 4
• Prince Edward Island 9, Alberta (Koe) 3

Draw 16: Thursday, March 7, 10 a.m. ET / 9 a.m. CT

• Manitoba (Carruthers) 6, Yukon 4
• Alberta (Bottcher) 9, British Columbia 4
• Newfoundland and Labrador 10, New Brunswick 4
• Manitoba (Dunstone) 8, Northern Ontario 3

Draw 17: Thursday, March 7, 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT

• Northwest Territories 9, Prince Edward Island 8
• Alberta (Koe) 6, Nunavut 4
• Saskatchewan 7, Quebec 6
• Canada 10, Alberta (Sluchinski) 4

Draw 18: Thursday, March 7, 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT

• Manitoba (Dunstone) 12, Newfoundland and Labrador 4
• Yukon 8, Northern Ontario 7
• Manitoba (Carruthers) 6, Alberta (Bottcher) 3
• New Brunswick 6, Ontario 5

Page 1-2 Qualifier: Friday, March 8, 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT

• Canada 9, Manitoba (Carruthers) 7
• Alberta (Bottcher) 9, Saskatchewan 7

Winners advance to the Page 1-2 playoff game. Losers drop to the Page 3-4 qualifiers.

Page 3-4 Qualifier: Friday, March 8, 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT

• Manitoba (Dunstone) 6, Manitoba (Carruthers) 2
• Saskatchewan 7, Northwest Territories 0

Winners advance to the Page 3-4 playoff game.

Page 3-4 Playoff: Saturday, March 9, 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT

• Saskatchewan 6, Manitoba (Dunstone) 5

Winner advances to the semifinal.

Page 1-2 Playoff: Saturday, March 9, 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT

• Canada 7, Alberta (Bottcher) 3

Winner advances to the final. Loser goes to the semifinal.

Semifinal: Sunday, March 10, 2 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. MT

• Saskatchewan 7, Alberta (Bottcher) 3

Final: Sunday, March 10, 8 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. MT

• Canada 9, Saskatchewan 5

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Curling sn-article
(Darryl Dyck/CP Photo) McEwen McEwen, Saskatchewan feel the home-ice rush, advance to semifinals at Brier 5747217 headlines Sat, 09 Mar 2024 19:35:14 EST Sat, 09 Mar 2024 22:55:01 EST Kristina Rutherford Mike McEwen’s hand was shaking while he signed autographs on Saturday afternoon in his adopted home province, minutes after the Team Saskatchewan skip used that same hand to release the game-winning shot to keep the home team alive at the Brier.

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REGINA — Mike McEwen’s hand was shaking while he signed autographs on Saturday afternoon in his adopted home province, minutes after the Team Saskatchewan skip used that same hand to release the game-winning shot to keep the home team alive at the Brier.

“It was difficult to keep the heart rate down,” a smiling McEwen said after his team held on for a 6-5 win over Manitoba. “And then, you know, that rush of adrenaline to make a shot to win the game.”

Before McEwen got ready to take that do-or-die final shot to punch his team a ticket to the semi-final, Saskatchewan third Colton Flasch — a towering presence that coach Brent Laing calls “a bit of a physical freak” — urged the skip not to put too much behind it.

“I know it’s noisy in there, but that’s all I want to do is sweep, sweep, sweep, so if anything I kept telling Mike, ‘No, we could probably take a little less,’” Flasch said when it was over. “We want to be on it and have control over that rock. We don’t want to have to not be sweeping it and then hope it comes up.”

The Saskatchewan fellas swept and it came up, taking out the Manitoba stone and sticking to seal a win, and then up came most of the 5,135 fans here, on their feet clapping and cheering for the hometown team.

“Mike is playing so good right now,” Flasch said. “He’s the best player in this building for sure, hands down. So we just got to keep giving him a chance to win. And I thought that was probably our best overall game of the week.” 

Next up for McEwen, Flasch, third Kevin Marsh and lead Dan Marsh in the Sunday afternoon semi-final is Team Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher. The winner takes on two-time defending champion Brad Gushue and Team Canada on Sunday night for all the marbles.

It looked early Saturday like Team Saskatchewan was in the driver’s seat against Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone, who won silver here last year. McEwen scored a deuce in the first end, stole back-to-back singles in six and seven and had a 5-1 lead going into the seventh.

Then things got mighty interesting.

McEwen managed a takeout that left Dunstone sitting one, and the Manitoba skip floated in a draw for a deuce to pull his team within two. In eight, McEwen had a look at a double for three, and just missed it, resulting in a steal of one for Dunstone, pulling Manitoba — lead Ryan Harnden, second Colton Lott, third B.J. Neufeld and Dunstone — within one.

“I was hoping that wouldn’t bite me,” McEwen said of the miss in eight. “But sometimes you don’t know what’s good for you. Maybe that’s good I missed that because I had to make a shot that, for all intents and purposes, might be what it feels like to have a shot to win the Brier.”

Before they got to that point, to win the game on their last shot, Team Saskatchewan opted to give up a steal of one in nine to keep the hammer coming home. Manitoba had scored four straight points to tie things up heading into 10, but Flasch swears it didn’t feel like they were on a sinking ship. 

“It didn’t feel too bad, even when we gave up the deuce and even the steal in eight, you know, it kind of sucked, obviously,” he said. “But I still had belief. Even if they get the steal the next end, I know Mike’s going to make a shot for the win.”

Before McEwen’s final shot, out came the “Let’s go Saskatchewan!” (clap, clap, clap, clap, clap) cheers, repeated three times before the final, “Yay Saskatchewan!” (lots of clapping). It was a spirited and also tense feel in the crowd, many of the fans sporting Roughriders green, which is darker than the vibrant shade players wear on the ice.

And though it’s the first year in green for McEwen, who’s from Manitoba, fans have certainly embraced the skip, which is no doubt easy to do since he’s winning. One sign here reads: “Mc. Lovin’ it!” 

They were really lovin’ it after McEwen made that last shot, which got the crowd roaring. All four Saskatchewan players threw both arms in the air, and McEwen pumped a fist. The team slid off the ice to a standing ovation.

“The hairs on my arms, back of the neck, everything’s standing up, so it’s great,” Flasch said, of the crowd. “It’s honestly almost as good of a feeling as winning the Brier. But it’s going to feel even better tomorrow.”

Dunstone was emotional when it was over. The 28-year-old is a perennial contender at the Brier, a silver medallist last year and back-to-back bronze medallist in 2020 and ’21, and his team is ranked fourth in Canada.

“You just kind of wonder when it’s going to be your time, you know? Been close a lot of times,” Dunstone said. “Just proud of the group. You know, we’re going to be back and promise we’ll be in the same position again.”

As for McEwen, the skipper said it has been six years since he’s truly believed he could win a big bonspiel like this one. “And now that belief is back, so that’s the biggest difference for me personally as the leader of this team,” McEwen said.

Laing played with McEwen last season for Team Ontario, and the coach said he’s watched McEwen gain confidence over the last couple of seasons. Winning helps, of course.

“This is just a perfect mix, these guys are super easygoing,” said Laing, who’s a three-time Brier and world champion. “They believe in Mike, they have faith in him. At the end of the day, they’ll kind of defer to Mike in big situations, and that’s good for Mike’s confidence.” 

McEwen, 43, said having the game come down to the wire will serve the team well against either Gushue or Bottcher on Sunday afternoon, with a ticket to the final on the line.

“There’s a lot of factors there that I’m trying to try to stay within a range that I could still operate, and I think I just managed to stay there, so that’s a really good test for me and the guys,” McEwen said, of that last shot. “It’s all good that we were pushed right to the limit.”

He’s the first player to skip three different provinces, and the first to get to skip at home in back-to-back years, after representing Ontario in London last year. On Sunday, McEwen will play in his first Brier semi-final since St. John’s in 2017, when he won a bronze medal, his best-ever finish here. It’ll be his first Brier semi-final wearing Saskatchewan green.

“It’s been a long road back to a semi for me,” McEwen said. “Honestly, this is the best building that I’ve ever played in. St. John’s was amazing, but I wasn’t the home team, so this is better.

“It’s going to go down as one of the best memories ever in my whole career, no matter how it ends.”

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Curling sn-article
curling Defending champion Gushue reaches Brier final with win over Bottcher 5747217 headlines Sat, 09 Mar 2024 23:02:57 EST Sat, 09 Mar 2024 23:44:20 EST Canadian Press Brad Gushue gained an express ticket to Sunday’s championship game at the Brier with a 7-3 playoff win over Brendan Bottcher on Saturday night.

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Brad Gushue was a win away from making more curling history at the Canadian men’s championship.

The defending Brier champion defeated tournament top seed Brendan Bottcher of Alberta 7-3 in a playoff game Saturday night to earn an express ticket to Sunday evening’s final in Regina’s Brandt Centre.

Bottcher dropped to Sunday afternoon’s semifinal to face Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen, who was a 6-5 winner earlier over Matt Dunstone.

Gushue manages a problematic hip, so one less game between his team and another title was desirable.

“We’re not young, so getting there efficiently is important,” said the 43-year-old. “It’s a challenge to play that semifinal and play the final again. I’d rather go this route.”

Gushue, third Mark Nichols and lead Geoff Walker were attempting to win the sixth Canadian men’s curling championship of their careers and third straight, which would tie both of Randy Ferbey’s records. 

Gushue could become the first man to skip a team to six Brier titles. 

Winning a nervous first title in Gushue’s hometown of St. John’s, N.L., in 2017, broke the Brier ice for him. His team repeated in 2018 in Regina playing like a team with no pressure on it. They’ve been perennial contenders for the last six years.

“If I win this, or we pull out the win tomorrow, it’s not going to change much in our lives,” Gushue said. “We know this is not a huge life-changing event for us anymore, so it takes a lot of the edge off. And we had a lot of edge in 2017.”

Gushue and Nichols will appear in an eighth Brier final to rank third all-time alongside Kevin Koe. Only Glenn Howard (11) and his former teammate Brent Laing (9) have appeared in more. 

“I know the nerves are going to be there,” Gushue said. “I’m not going to be able to eat as much tomorrow. That’s not going to surprise me. It’s not going to make me more nervous. It’s actually going to get me excited because I know that’s the feeling that I want and that I want all year.

“When you go play in events in curling clubs, and you don’t get that, I’m like ‘this sucks.’”

After starting with a 2-2 record, Gushue’s foursome that includes second E.J. Harnden won six games in a row.

Bottcher, the 2021 Brier champion, shook hands after giving up a steal of one in both the eighth and ninth ends Saturday.

Alberta’s skip missed a tricky double trying to score three in the eighth. He missed an attempted triple takeout in the ninth in front of a tournament-high 5,637 at the Brandt Centre.

“I thought in the first half we definitely had a few chances,” Bottcher said. “We gave up a couple of deuces. He kept the lead on the scoreboard. As the game went on, we had to take a little bit more risk.”

Sunday’s winner represents Canada at the men’s world championship from March 30 to April 7 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland and returns to the 2025 Montana’s Brier in Kelowna, B.C., as defending champion.

The victor also banks a berth in the 2025 Olympic trials pending a top-six result in Switzerland.

A revitalized McEwen has been good for Saskatchewan’s chances of ending a 43-year-old drought.

Recruited last year by Colton Flasch, Kevin Marsh and Daniel Marsh to skip them as their out-of-province import, they were two wins from becoming the first Saskatchewan team to win a Brier since Rick Folk’s in 1980.

McEwen’s hit against three Dunstone counters for the winning point in the 10th end drew a standing ovation.

“It’s going to go down as one of my best memories ever in my whole career, no matter how this ends,” said the 43-year-old from Winnipeg.

A Saskatchewan team hasn’t reached a final since Brad Heidt lost to Kerry Burtnyk in 1995. The Marsh twins were born in Regina and Flasch in Biggar.

“Our goal coming in here was to be there in the final game on Sunday,” Kevin said. “It’s something we’ve talked about and thought about, and it’s in our goals, right? This is where we expect to be and if we play really well, I think we’ll be in a good spot come Sunday.”

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Curling sn-article
Riku Yanagisawa Moose Jaw named host for 2025 men’s world curling championship 5747217 headlines Fri, 08 Mar 2024 12:57:47 EST Fri, 08 Mar 2024 12:58:22 EST Canadian Press The city west of Regina will host the men’s championship for the first time after the 1983 women’s world championship was played there.

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The 2025 men’s world curling championship will be played in Moose Jaw, Sask.

The city west of Regina will host the men’s championship for the first time after the 1983 women’s world championship was played there.

Moose Jaw’s 4,465-seat Mosaic Arena built in 2011 was also the site of the Canadian women’s curling championship in both 2015 and 2020.

The 2024 and 2025 men’s championships are qualifiers for the 2026 Olympic Games via points earned based on rankings.

Canada’s representative at the 2024 men’s world championship March 30 to April in 7 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland will be determined Sunday at the Montana’s Brier in Regina.

The last Canadian team to win a men’s world title was Brad Gushue in 2017 in Edmonton.

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Curling sn-article
Darryl Dyck/AP Mike McEwen ‘He can’t miss’: McEwen shines at Brier as Saskatchewan chase playoffs feed_column Wed, 06 Mar 2024 16:05:36 EST Wed, 06 Mar 2024 19:55:02 EST Kristina Rutherford Mike McEwen and his Saskatchewan teammates are cruising at the Brier, topping Pool B and closing in on clinching a playoff berth.

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REGINA — Daniel Marsh and his Saskatchewan-born teammates haven’t put the pressure on Mike McEwen to uproot his family’s life and make the move to their home province yet, but they are working on converting their Winnipeg-born skip in other not-so-subtle ways.  

“We’re convincing him to be a Riders fan and to say ‘bunny hug’ instead of ‘hoodie,’” Daniel said, laughing. “We’ve got him on those things first. He doesn’t like ‘Bunny hug’ yet, but he’s catching on. And at least this week he better be saying he’s a Riders fan.” 

Well, it’s safe to say Saskatchewan fans are embracing McEwen, even if he lives in Winnipeg and is moonlighting as a bunny hug-wearing Roughriders fan this week. The skip, along with third Colton Flash and twin brothers Kevin Marsh at second and Daniel at lead, are cruising at the Brier, topping Pool B and closing in on clinching a playoff berth.

“I feel like we’re playing as good as anyone out here,” Flasch said, following a 10-2 win over the Northwest Territories on Wednesday. “The look in Mike’s eye — he can’t miss right now.”

McEwen, 43, is wearing green here for the first time, but it’s his third time as the home skip at a Brier. He wore an Ontario jacket last year in London, and a Manitoba jacket in Brandon in 2019 in his actual home province, and now he’s out in Regina representing Saskatchewan.  

“I wasn’t sure how they would embrace a Manitoban, and they’ve really been amazing,” McEwen said of the fans, after his team’s fifth win here. “I haven’t felt this good about — yeah, I’ve played some home Briers — but this one feels really good.”

McEwen’s best finish at the Brier was a bronze medal in 2017 with Manitoba. After his Ontario-based team split up last season, Flasch and the Marsh brothers approached him to join forces. “I kind of grew up watching Mike when he was in his heyday there, world number one for a few years, he won lots of Tour events,” Daniel said. “Maybe he had a few off years for what he was liking, but our team dynamic has been great, and we’ve been trying to build up his confidence all year, as well as our team’s confidence.”

Flasch and the Marsh brothers spoke to McEwen about getting back to his heyday.

“We talked about that as a team. ‘Mike, you were the number one curler probably in the world at one point, right? So we want to see that Mike back,’” Daniel said.  “We used that language a little bit as a team, and I think he liked the sound of that.”

McEwen did. “I think I was close to, you know, just kind of fell out of love with the game,” the skip said. “And it wasn’t necessarily curling that was the problem, it was, you know, stuff going on with me. And I feel so much gratitude to have ended up with a team like this that saw something in me that took myself longer to see. I’ve seen it now. Now I know it’s there, but they saw it before me. And that was really important to feel that belief from my teammates.

“I’m just grateful that I really, I think I had to go on that journey to get back where I am right now,” McEwen added. “Sometimes you got to go to a dark place to end up higher. And I think because of going through some of those things, I think my ceiling’s back — it’s higher than I think I thought it could go, given where it was a couple of years ago. I thought it was actually on the downturn and now I think I can still get better.”

McEwen began his journey toward feeling like he could play consistently well about a year ago, while playing with Team Ontario, after a few years of what he described as “streaky” performances.

“I feel like I’m throwing as good as I have in six years,” McEwen said.

That’s all good news for Saskatchewan fans, who’ve been roaring the loudest for their hometown team this week at the Brandt Centre.  

“I would say we’re the crowd favourites – usually it’s Brad Gushue, but I think we have that this week,” Kevin said, laughing. “The support has been incredible.” 

Flasch and the Marsh brothers live nearby in Saskatoon, and competed at the Brier as a team in 2022. This being their first year with McEwen at the helm, they played a heavy schedule of 12 events leading into the national championship. 

Flasch said bringing McEwen in was “seamless,” though it did take the skip some time to figure out which Marsh brother is which. He’s called for Daniel to sweep when he meant Kevin more than a few times, and vice versa. But that’s fair, if you ask the twins. “There’s not a lot of big tells between us, to be honest,” Kevin said, to figure out who’s who. “No one’s dying their hair, no one has a face tattoo.”

That’s true, but McEwen did point out Kevin’s hair is parted one direction and Daniel’s is parted the other. “He’s caught on pretty quick,” Kevin said. 

Embracing cheering for the Roughriders and calling hoodies “bunny hugs” might take a while longer for McEwen, though.

“We give him a hard time because he’s from Winnipeg, obviously, but he’s looking really good in green,” Kevin said, grinning. “We’re hoping we can keep him wearing green for a long time.”

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Curling sn-article
inside_curling1280 Inside Curling: Talking Brier with Paul Webster full_width Wed, 06 Mar 2024 09:31:37 EST Wed, 06 Mar 2024 09:31:41 EST Sportsnet Staff Hosts Kevin Martin, Warren Hansen and Jim Jerome are joined by Paul Webster, who talks about the latest from the Brier in Regina. Plus, the latest news and buzz from around the curling world.

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Hosts Kevin Martin, Warren Hansen and Jim Jerome are joined by Paul Webster, who talks about the latest from the Brier in Regina. Plus, the latest news and buzz from around the curling world.

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Curling sn-article
alex-smith Long time between Briers, Newfoundland and Labrador lead back in it 35 years later feed_column Sun, 03 Mar 2024 08:31:56 EST Sun, 03 Mar 2024 08:31:57 EST Canadian Press Alex Smith is back in the Canadian men’s curling championship 35 years after his last appearance in Saskatoon in 1989.

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REGINA — Alex Smith is back in the Canadian men’s curling championship 35 years after his last appearance in Saskatoon in 1989.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s lead at the Montana’s Brier in Regina was a 23-year-old engineering student when he played third for Lorne Henderson’s team that posted a 7-4 record in Saskatchewan Place.

Now 58, the province’s assistant deputy minister of mines has returned to an event he thought was in his rear-view mirror.

“It’s a whole lifetime,” Smith said. “Marriage, kids, grandkids. A lot has happened since then.

“Last few years, I’d been playing seniors and I sort of thought my time was done, but you know, stuff happens.”

“Stuff” was Andrew Symonds’ regular lead Keith Jewer falling and separating his shoulder in the team’s third game of the season.

“Unfortunately he was done for the year,” Symonds said. “We went through the rest of the fall with varying spares and a lot of games we played with three folks. Once we got into Tankard time, we were looking for a lead and potentially somebody to hold the broom as well.”

Smith delivers first stones, and runs the rings when Symonds throws skip stones for the St. John’s foursome.

Smith skipped Newfoundland and Labrador to a 4-6 record in December’s national men’s senior curling championship in Vernon, B.C. He played his first game with Symonds in the men’s provincial championship.

“There was no doubt it was Alex,” Symonds said. “He’s a very experienced player. He’s a great curler. Age is just a number for sure. When we got into the Tankard, it just clicked. We got on a nice run at the end.

“The story itself, 35 years is crazy. We knew it would be when we came here. Thinking back to 1989 when he went to Saskatoon at 23 years old, he probably thought he was going to go seven or eight times maybe. Then 35 years later, here we are.”

Yukon’s Clinton Abel and Scott Odian previously held the record for the longest gap between Brier appearances at 24 years (1995-2019).

Brad Gushue, who is pursuing a sixth career national title in Regina, was eight years old when Lorne Henderson finished just outside the playoffs in Saskatoon.

The 1989 crowds and host city’s terrain stand out in Smith’s mind.

“Much like Regina, flat land,” he said. “I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.”

The Brier has changed a lot in 35 years. Smith said he’s prepared for it.

“It’s certainly more demanding on a 58-year-old body than it is on a 23-year-old body,” he said. “It’s totally different.

“The current era of curling, it’s professional curlers that are going to win this event Our goal here is to compete, to play well and just try to do our best.

“With life experience, and the added benefit of being a bit of a surprise, I can just come here and appreciate having the experience and competing.”

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Curling sn-article
Darryl Dyck/CP bottcher_brendan1280 Bottcher, Gushue, McEwen, Dunstone the Brier’s final four playoff teams feed_column Sat, 09 Mar 2024 00:58:38 EST Sat, 09 Mar 2024 00:58:39 EST Canadian Press Brendan Bottcher shortened his road to the final of the Canadian men’s curling championship, but not without drama.

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REGINA — Brendan Bottcher shortened his road to the final of the Canadian men’s curling championship, but not without drama.

Up a point coming home with hammer against Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen, the 10th end paused for almost four minutes while the ramifications of a rock burned by his team were sorted out.

Lead Ben Hebert’s broom head clicked third Marc Kennedy’s thrown stone in motion when Hebert and second Brent Gallant crossed brooms.

“Not my first burnt rock. Probably won’t be my last,” Bottcher said after Friday’s 9-7 win. “I’m playing with a lot of veteran guys who have also been there, done that before. All you can do is take a breath and continue on.”

The Brier’s No. 1 seed meets defending champion Brad Gushue in Saturday’s Page playoff that offers an express ticket to Sunday’s final for the winner. The loser must win the semifinal earlier that day to gain a rematch at night.

Five-time Brier champion Gushue was a 9-7 winner over Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers to advance.

McEwen recovered with an undramatic 7-0 win at night over Northwest Territories’ Jamie Koe, who gave up single-point steals in six ends. Koe shook hands after eight ends in front of a full house in Regina’s Brandt Centre.

“Not quite how we drew it up. Would love to win this one earlier today, but we’re still breathing and that’s all we can ask for right now,” McEwen said. “It’s not too far, right? It’s just three more (wins), but we’ll just worry about one at a time.”

Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone, the 2023 Brier finalist, was a 6-2 winner over Carruthers at night to advance. Dunstone takes on the host province in Saturday’s Page elimination playoff that determines Sunday’s other semifinalist.

“We’re not going to have many fans pulling for us,” said Dunstone, who previously represented Saskatchewan three times in his career. “I’m going to be on the other side of the green jacket this time.

“We’re climbing a mountain still. Have been for a few days. We’re playing very well. Good enough to win this thing and this team certainly believes that we can.”

Gushue, who along with third Mark Nichols and lead Geoff Walker, were two wins away from their sixth titles and third straight to equal Randy Ferbey’s records. Their second E.J. Harnden is a former Canadian, world and Olympic champion with Brad Jacobs.

Bottcher’s Albertan lineup is equally accomplished with a combined 10 national titles and five world championships between Kennedy, Gushue’s former second Gallant and Hebert. Bottcher skipped a different lineup to win the 2021 Brier.

Kennedy won Olympic gold in 2010 playing second for Kevin Martin.

“You look at all the names on this team and there are a lot of names that a lot of teams would like to have, so I’m definitely grateful to have been a part of this group,” Bottcher said.

Gushue’s team from St. John’s, N.L., shot over 90 per cent accuracy for a fifth straight game against Carruthers.

“Getting into the one-two game is, you know, get two cracks at the final. I think that was the key,” Gushue said. “For me, it was really about getting tonight off and getting to that one-two game.”

Sunday’s winner represents Canada at the men’s world championship March 30 to April 7 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland and returns to the 2025 Montana’s Brier in Kelowna, B.C. as defending champion.

Curling Canada rules state if a moving stone is touched by the team to which it belongs, all stones are allowed to come to rest.

The touched stone must be removed from play and all stones that were displaced after the infraction are placed to their original positions, unless the non-offending team considers it an advantage to either leave all stones where they came to rest, or place all stones where it reasonably considers the stones would have come to rest had the moving stone not been touched.

McEwen asked for visual assistance from the umpire to return three rocks to their original position.

“It was just difficult to figure out where everything went back,” he said. “In that situation, more rocks in play is better for us trying to steal.

“Thank goodness we were the TV game. If you’re on another sheet beside, you might not be afforded that kind of view from the overhead.”

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Curling sn-article
CP/HO-Michael Burns Aaron Sluchinski Sluchinski brings new Alberta team to Canadian men’s curling championship field feed_column Thu, 29 Feb 2024 20:03:01 EST Thu, 29 Feb 2024 20:03:06 EST Canadian Press A curling team bearing a name other than Bottcher, Koe, Martin or Ferbey will represent Alberta at the Canadian men’s championship for the first time in 26 years.

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A curling team bearing a name other than Bottcher, Koe, Martin or Ferbey will represent Alberta at the Canadian men’s championship for the first time in 26 years.

Aaron Sluchinski upset Kevin Koe in Alberta’s men’s final. Sluchinski’s Airdrie Curling Club team is among 18 battling for a national title in the Montana’s Brier starting Friday in Regina.

“It was huge for me and the guys,” Sluchinski said. “Ever since I started curling I just wanted to play in a Brier. 

“It’s the biggest stage in curling and that was my 11th try at provincials so it was nice to finally beat one of the big guys.”

Four-time Brier champion Koe still gained entry to Regina as the highest-ranked, non-qualified men’s team in Canada.

Koe ranked third nationally and No. 7 Sluchinski knew they were both Brier-bound in their final’s fifth-end break, when informed of Manitoba’s men’s result.

Sluchinski was nevertheless proud to get his team’s name on a silver cup that has long carried the names of Koe, Brendan Bottcher, Kevin Martin and Randy Ferbey, and to also beat Koe twice in Alberta’s playoffs en route to the title.

“We beat those guys in other events and stuff, but they always bring it at the provincials,” Sluchinski said. “It’s always so much more difficult when you play them to represent the province. So it felt like, yeah, we knocked off a giant there.”

The Brier field includes 14 provincial and territorial champions. Seven teams are ranked in Canada’s top 10. Alberta has three entries and Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador each have two.

Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., returns as defending champion seeking a third straight title, as well as a career sixth for himself, third Mark Nichols and lead Geoff Walker, which would tie Ferbey for the record.

Curling Canada changing entry criteria for the national men’s and women’s curling championship pre-qualified Bottcher and Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone based on their No. 2 and No. 3 ranking respectively after the 2022-23 season.

Gushue defeated Dunstone 7-5 in last year’s Brier final in London, Ont. 

The teams are divided into two pools of nine with the top three advancing to a six-team playoff. Tiebreaker games were eliminated from the format this year to mirror world championships and Olympic Games.

Head-to-head results are the first tiebreaker, followed by the best cumulative score in the draw-the-button that precedes each game. 

The latter formula was activated at the Canadian women’s championships in Calgary, where five teams tied at 4-4 for the third and final playoff spot in one pool.

The Brier winner March 10 represents Canada at the men’s world championship March 30 to April 7 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, and returns as defending champion to the 2025 Montana’s Brier in Kelowna, B.C.

Sluchinski, third Jeremy Harty, second Kerr Drummond and lead Dylan Webster reached the Brier in their second season as a foursome, although Sluchinski, Drummond and Webster have been teammates for seven years.

But Drummond, who was born in Scotland, competed in his first provincial championship this year after receiving his Canadian citizenship in 2022. 

Sluchinski, 36, will chase another Canadian curling title in 2024. He and wife Amanda will represent Alberta at the national mixed doubles championship in March.

Sluchinski works as an energy company accountant, Harty as a corporate consultancy supervisor, Drummond as a sales representative and Webster as an IT project manager.

Other than four ends Sluchinski played as Bottcher’s alternate at the 2022 Brier in Lethbridge, Alta., his will be a rookie team in Regina.

“That big stage, it’s the only one in curling where you really get those big crowds,” Sluchinski said. “I’ve been in the stands lots for those types of events. It’ll be nice to be out on the ice steering the ship of a team there.

“All the top teams, if you look at them at the Brier, we’ve played all of them over the last couple years. We’ve had some success against them. We know what we have to do to win. We’ve got to hopefully bring it to that stage.”

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Curling sn-article
Jeff McIntosh/CP homan_rachel_1280 ‘Unbelievable’: Homan completes undefeated run to claim fourth Scotties title full_width Mon, 26 Feb 2024 02:05:37 EST Mon, 26 Feb 2024 02:05:42 EST Kristina Rutherford Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones didn’t go out on top in her Scotties finale, but she came pretty close as Rachel Homan and Team Ontario completed an undefeated run to win the Canadian women’s curling championship.

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CALGARY — Most of the fans had cleared out of WinSport Arena, and Jennifer Jones walked across Sheet A and sat down, cross-legged, on top of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts logo. Jones sat with those four red hearts, perfectly arranged in a circle, and she smiled as her husband, Brent Laing, took photos of the greatest competitor this national championship has ever seen, with a silver medal dangling around her neck.

Jones didn’t go out on top in her Scotties finale, but she came pretty darn close.

On Sunday night in front of a sold-out crowd, Rachel Homan and Team Ontario continued their incredible undefeated run here, capping it off with a 5-4 win in a game that came down to the second-last rock, edging Jones in what she has announced will be her last Scotties.

It’s a fourth title for Homan, seven years after her last. If anyone was going to spoil Jones’ fairytale, it was bound to be Homan, third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes, who have lost just five times this season.

“Unbelievable,” Homan said, grinning, when it was over. “It took a team effort. We’ve been working so hard trying to get back after giving birth just in the summer, at least for Sarah and I. And I mean, you put in the work and you hope it’s enough, and today it was enough. It’s just a phenomenal feeling.”

The title is a fourth for Miskew, a second for Wilkes and a first for Fleury.

“Incredible. This team really puts in the work,” Team Ontario coach Don Bartlett said. “And Rachel, I mean, there’s no give up in her at all. Even when she had her baby [in late August], she was out there curling. She’s an incredible athlete. I’m so happy for her. She deserves this.”

When it was over, Homan threw her broom to the floor, and she, Fleury, Miskew and Wilkes jump-hugged all together. Homan picked up Fleury and spun her around. Miskew fought back tears as she hugged her long-time skip.

“It’s so nice to say that we’re champs again,” Miskew said, grinning, holding her trophy. “We battled for each other out there. I’m super proud of my teammates.”

There were plenty of feelings in the building on Sunday, this being not only the Scotties final, but Jones’ forever Scotties final, as she announced it would be her last about a week before the national championship began.

It felt quiet and nervous in the building, really until it was over. The 3,195 fans weren’t quite as boisterous as they’d been earlier in the week. The cowbells were largely put away, with so much on the line.

In the ninth, Team Jones was down 4-2, and got a chance at a deuce after Homan’s last rock took out a Jones rock, which bounced back to count as the shot rock. It was an unlucky break for Homan, but it set up for the final this one deserved. Jones drew to the button to tie things up heading into the 10th.

On Homan’s first shot in the final frame, she nudged a stone forward in the house to make it shot rock, thanks in large part to Herculean sweeping efforts from Miskew and Wilkes.

Jones needed a tough draw to give herself a chance at a steal. Fans clapped as she slid back to the hack for her last shot at the Scotties, and she stayed crouched down on the ice as it sailed just long.

“We just managed to hang on,” Bartlett said, of his Team Ontario. “I mean, Jenn makes the come-around on her last shot, she probably wins. She just missed by an inch.”

The crowd got loud when it was over, but the loudest fans got was when they gave Jones a standing ovation as she stood in the middle of the ice, clapping, crying and blowing kisses.

Her daughters, Isabella and Skyla, jumped over the boards to hug their mom. “On Top of the World” blasted from the arena’s speakers, and Jones wasn’t quite there, but she was close.

“I’m just gonna miss everybody,” Jones said, her voice breaking with emotion. “I love the game. Oh, I just love being out here. I love what it’s done for our daughters. They believe that anything is possible because of curling. …

“I just love being a part of this curling community and I’m really gonna miss it. And the standing ovation was more than I could have ever expected. The fact that all these people came in and supported our sport and kind of supported me means the world.”

It wasn’t the fairytale ending for the greatest of all time, but it was close.

“My last one got by, you don’t want to end on a miss, but honestly I couldn’t have asked for a better championship,” Jones said. “We made the final, we played a great game, and that’s all we could have ever really asked for. …

“It would have been an absolute cherry on top to be Team Canada one more time, but I’m so proud of our week. Everybody thought we were going to have all these distractions because I made the announcement, but we showed up to play and I’m really proud of that.”

Nobody has won more than Jones’ six titles here. More than her 177 games. She made the podium in an incredible 15 of 18 Scotties appearances and for the last time on Sunday. Unless, of course, she changes her mind.

“At this moment, it’s really hard to say goodbye, to be honest,” Jones said. “And I think for me it was just, I don’t want my kids to look back on life and think that their mum was never front row centre cheering them on like my mum was for me. So that’s the biggest reason.”

“But they keep asking me to change my mind, so we’ll see,” the 49-year-old added, laughing.

“She’s the icon, she’s the GOAT,” said second Emily Zacharias, who’s the youngest on Team Jones at 22. “You get the callup to play with her, and you’ve idolized her your whole life and you’ve seen what she’s done for curling, and then you figure out who she is as a person. You find out that she’s an incredible person, and she’s done a lot more than you realize for the sport. And just keep learning, the more you get to play with her.

“It’s incredible to get to say that I played with her and to get to know her as a person. So it’s something I’ll forever just be honoured to have experienced.”

“Jennifer Jones is such a competitor,” Miskew added. “This game, I mean, there was so much fight in her.”

So much fight in this Team Ontario, too. This group hasn’t lost since late January, and they’ll take that winning streak with them as they head to world championships in Nova Scotia next month, as Team Canada.

“I think it’s been a really good season for us,” said Fleury, who was talking to media while also keeping an eye on her three-year-old daughter, Nina, who was trying to play on the ice, donut in hand. “We’re happy with how we’re playing right now, so we’re excited to wear the maple leaf and see what we can do.”

“We’re going to put in every ounce of work that we can to represent Canada as best we can, in Canada,” Homan said. “We’re so excited to be able to do that.”

The skip hesitated and struggled to find the words to describe earning the win Sunday, seven years after her last title here.

“I can’t describe the feeling of just coming so close so many times, losing — I don’t know, feels like seven finals,” Homan said. “But I’m so proud of my team for fighting and sticking with it.”

Players stuck around on the ice long after it was over. Homan’s son ran laps. Her daughter put on the winner’s cowboy hat.

Jones hugged her daughters and took family photos with those Hearts logos on the ice, her final appearance at the Scotties now in the books. And what a run she had here. It’s hard to believe it’s over.

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Curling sn-article
17078475115883047 ‘The Milestone’: Jennifer Jones doesn’t just play the sport, she defines it feed_column Tue, 13 Feb 2024 13:20:37 EST Tue, 13 Feb 2024 13:20:37 EST Sportsnet Video Karlee Burgess describes what it’s like playing with skip Jennifer Jones and helping her write the next chapter of her storied career.

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Curling videohttps://cf-images.us-east-1.prod.boltdns.net/v1/static/1704050871/f11a650a-8b59-472c-a2ad-262f3660a6ea/584f5848-9f6b-4a30-b0f8-702d48200116/160x90/match/image.jpgSportsnet Video bc-video
inside_curling1280 Inside Curling Podcast: Jennifer Jones talks retirement feed_column Wed, 14 Feb 2024 15:17:44 EST Fri, 16 Feb 2024 09:16:00 EST Sportsnet Staff Jennifer Jones, who announced Tuesday that she will retire from competitive women’s curling after this season, joins hosts Kevin Martin, Warren Hansen and Jim Jerome to talk about her decision to step away.

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Jennifer Jones, who announced Tuesday that she will retire from competitive women’s curling after this season, joins hosts Kevin Martin, Warren Hansen and Jim Jerome to talk about her decision to step away.

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Curling sn-article
einarson Einarson declines comment on lead’s absence after opening Scotties with win feed_column Sat, 17 Feb 2024 00:46:52 EST Sat, 17 Feb 2024 00:48:09 EST Canadian Press Kerri Einarson opened her bid for a record fifth straight Canadian women’s curling championship with a victory, but minus lead Briane Harris, whose absence went unexplained.

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CALGARY — Kerri Einarson opened her bid for a record fifth straight Canadian women’s curling championship with a victory, but minus lead Briane Harris, whose absence went unexplained.

Neither the skip nor Curling Canada provided an explanation Friday on why Harris was abruptly deemed “ineligible” to compete at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Calgary.

After cruising to an 8-2 win over Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges, and with Krysten Karwacki playing lead, the skip refused to answer questions about Harris’s absence.

“Sorry, I’m not at liberty to talk about that right now at this moment,” Einarson said.

When asked why a woman who has been a teammate for five years was suddenly ineligible, the skip said “Sorry, I’m not going to discuss anything further than that.”

Curling Canada said in a statement earlier Friday it had “been made aware” that Harris was ineligible to compete in the Tournament of Hearts. A reason was not provided and the national sporting organization said no further comment would be forthcoming.

“Our statement that we released is all we are able to share at this time,” Curling Canada chief executive officer Nolan Thiessen said in an email. “If there is more information to share at later time we will, but we will make no further comment at this time.”

Harris travelled to Calgary with the Gimli Curling Club team from Manitoba. They attended a Calgary Flames game the night before Friday’s opening draw.

“It’s been emotional, but we’re getting through it and we’re tough,” Einarson said. “We’ve faced adversity in the last five, six years together, so we can pull through.”

The 31-year-old Harris has been an integral piece of Einarson’s four consecutive Hearts crowns, which is tied for the most with Colleen Jones. 

Harris was a workhorse sweeper for Einarson last year in Kamloops, B.C., despite being five months pregnant.

“She’s a fantastic teammate, she’s super well-rounded in throwing and sweeping,” said second Shannon Birchard. “We’re fortunate to have somebody like Krysten who can come in seamlessly and perform all those duties as well.”

In Friday’s opening draw, Alberta’s Selena Sturmay beat Manitoba’s Kaitlyn Lawes 7-5, Saskatchewan’s Skylar Ackerman opened with an 11-8 win over Prince Edward Island’s Jane DiCarlo and Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville defeated B.C.’s Corynn Brown 9-5.

Einarson’s next game is Saturday evening against McCarville. The top three teams in each pool of nine advance to playoffs, from which the final four Page playoff teams will be determined.

The winner Feb. 25 will represent Canada at the world women’s championship March 16-24 in Sydney, N.S. Einarson has earned bronze medals at the last two world championships.

Einarson, third Val Sweeting, Birchard and Harris were all former skips who joined forces for the 2018-19 season. Harris skipped her own team for two seasons before joining Einarson.

Coach Reid Carruthers said Friday was “challenging” and the team was “still processing a lot of it.”

Harris was not on the defending champions’ coaches bench with Carruthers on Friday. When asked if she had returned to Winnipeg, the skip said “no.”

“We just have a support each other in every way we can,” Einarson said. “This team has been together for a long time, and we have each other’s backs and we know what it takes.

“It’s a grind and we’re going to grind it out every single game, every single end.”

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Curling sn-article
jennifer-jones Olympic champion Jennifer Jones retiring from women’s team curling feed_column Tue, 13 Feb 2024 11:42:22 EST Tue, 13 Feb 2024 15:51:57 EST Canadian Press Jennifer Jones, the Canadian curling great who skipped the gold-medal-winning rink at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, announced Tuesday she will be retiring from women’s curling at the end of the season.

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Jennifer Jones will leave women’s curling still loving it, but she’s ready for change in her life.

The 49-year-old who won an Olympic gold medal, two world championships and six Canadian women’s titles as a skip announced Tuesday she’ll retire from team curling at the end of this season, although she’ll continue to play mixed doubles with husband Brent Laing.

The decision to step away from team curling was difficult for the decorated Canadian curler from Winnipeg.

“It’s making me a little bit emotional,” Jones said. “It’s been a massive part of my love and my life forever and I’m going to miss it. Curling changed me. It helped me become the woman that I am and I’ve never lost that gratitude.

“I’m also really excited about what the potential next steps will be and have that next chapter in my life, which is starting later than I ever thought it would. I wasn’t ready for it to start and now I’m ready.”

Her six Canadian women’s championships won between 20015 and 2018 ties Jennifer Jones with former Nova Scotia skip Colleen Jones for the most.

But if Jennifer Jones wins a record seventh Scotties Tournament of Hearts, and thus the right to return in 2025 as defending champion, she insists her 18th appearance at the national women’s championship starting Friday in Calgary will be her last.

“This is my last one,” she said. “I want to soak it up. I want to smell the ice like I’ve never smelled it. I want to enjoy the moment. I know when it’s over I’ll be a bit sad. I’ll be happy, but I’m going to be a bit sad because I just love it so much.”

The elite level of curling Jones pursued in both women’s team and mixed doubles meant travelling to events almost every week from September to April.

Daughters Isabella, 11, and Skyla, 7, are the primary reason for Jones’s decision to drop one curling discipline. Many bedtime stories have been told virtually.

“I’m super-present in their life so I don’t want it to come across that I’m not, but I just want to be more physically present instead of practising spelling words over FaceTime because I schedule it when I’m on the road,” Jones said.

“I just want to be there for every day moments. Those kind of those small things became more important to me than the smell of the ice.”

Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn McEwen went undefeated at 11-0 to win an Olympic gold medal in Sochi, Russia, in 2014. That foursome also won a world title in 2018 in North Bay, Ont.

Jones won her first in 2008 in Vernon, B.C., with the front end of Officer and McEwen and Cathy-Overton Clapham as her vice.

Jones’s walk-off deflection off an Ontario stone well outside the rings for a takeout on the button to win her first Hearts in 2005 is still in heavy rotation on curling highlight reels.

“They always say ‘you want the ball.’ I always wanted that opportunity. A shot to win. Make it or miss it, the adrenalin’s flowing. I’ll never forget how my heart felt,” she said. “I’ll never forget the moment when the crowd went quiet and then they went crazy.”

After Jones, Lawes, Jocelyn Peterman and McEwen finished fifth in the 2022 Olympic Games in Bejing, Jones took over a young team of women under the age of 25.

Jones reached the final of the 2023 Tournament of Hearts in Kamloops, B.C., and lost to Kerri Einarson. Jones, Karlee Burgess, Emily Zacharias and Lauren Lenentine return as a Manitoba wild-card team in Calgary.

“I just want to go out there and show everybody what we can do because they’re fabulous,” Jones said. “I want to play our hearts out and see where it takes us.”

She’s not done with elite curling. After winning the Canadian mixed doubles championship and placing fourth in last year’s world championships, Jones and Laing, who live in Horseshoe Valley, Ont., will compete in the this year’s national championship March 17-22 in Fredericton.

Jones will also coach Isla in the Ontario’s elementary school provincials in March.

“I’m pretty proud of the longevity, but we were part of the evolution of women’s curling,” Jones said.

“To see that women could shine on the world stage and on television and how much more air time we have, and as a mom of two daughters, to see that we have these role models now for our young up-and-coming athletes, and to be a part of that, to have any small impact on the next generation, that is the biggest compliment anybody could ever give me.”

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Curling sn-article
Andrew Klaver/Curling Canada Big-Read-Team-McCarville-Feature Meet the ‘amateur’ rink that can take on the world’s best curlers and win full_width Thu, 25 Jan 2024 08:10:17 EST Thu, 25 Jan 2024 09:00:23 EST Kristina Rutherford Opting to stay home, practice and only rarely compete, you wouldn’t expect Team McCarville to put up much fight against the world’s best rinks. You’d be wrong.

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PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Opting to stay home, practice and only rarely compete, you wouldn’t expect Team McCarville to put up much fight against the world’s best rinks. You’d be wrong.

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our members of Team McCarville are walking through the warm part of North Grenville Curling Club in their sock feet, honouring the sign on the front door asking people to remove their boots before entering. (Not everyone does.) There’s another sign taped to the wall that asks for volunteer “sandwich makers.” Krista McCarville, Andrea Kelly, Ashley Sippala and Sarah Potts pass a table of egg salad sandwiches (crafted by volunteers Joe and Joanne) before reaching a display of Bristol boards featuring pictures of smiling teams who’ve won the club’s annual fall classic, the bonspiel that’s brought Team McCarville here. In a few days’ time, they may earn the right to have a picture of their own pasted to a board here. The team sure is off to a good start.

It’s late October 2023, just after lunch time on Day 1 of the tournament, and Team McCarville just cruised to an easy 9-3 win in their opener. About 50 fans are taking in the action still happening on the ice, the glass they’re watching through fogging up and then being cleared over and over by a man with dish soap and a rag who’s now improving sightlines so fans can see Olympic silver medallist Kim Eun-Jung sew up a win. In addition to Kim’s rink and another team from South Korea, this bonspiel has drawn teams from Japan, Italy, Canada and the U.S. to the town of Kemptville, Ont., just outside of Ottawa and home to some 4,000 people.

A couple of fans offer congratulations as McCarville, Kelly, Sippala and Potts make their way to the dressing room. “Love the uniforms,” one fan says, raising his beer to “cheers” the air. The green and yellow jackets with the Thunder Bay North Stars logo are new for Team McCarville this season, the junior hockey team just became a sponsor. Potts admits it was jarring at first to wear such bright colours, but it’s really grown on the lead. “And I can’t believe how much everybody loves them,” she says.

The women head upstairs for lunch and the talk at the table is nonstop. Potts and Sippala are best friends who met through curling 22 years ago. Sippala, Potts and McCarville have been curling together more than a decade, and consider each other family, along with second Kendra Lilly, who’s home in Sudbury this week since theirs is a five-woman rotation. Kelly, the third, is new to the team, and lives in Fredericton, NB. She spends lunch catching up on how everyone’s been since she last saw them a few weeks ago.

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Also in need of hashing out is what they’ll do between now and their next game at 9 p.m., having earned a seven-hour break thanks to the opening win. “We need to go to the LCBO,” McCarville says. They got in after it closed last night. They’ll enjoy wine or beer after every day of the tournament, which Potts contends is “the best part,” when they’re back at their Airbnb relaxing. “Some teams have zero drinks during spiels,” McCarville says. Hers takes a different approach.

In so many ways, that’s true of Team McCarville. They don’t operate like any of the other top rinks in the world. This Thunder Bay-based squad plays a fraction of the events, and you won’t see them touring regularly, like Team Jones, Team Homan and Team Einarson do. And yet, Team McCarville has finished on the podium at the last two Scotties, and at the last Olympic trials. When the stakes are highest, they’re consistently a threat to win the whole shebang.

Of course, their relative lack of spiels is the biggest criticism leveled at the team, and the explanation paraded out when pundits wonder why they haven’t won the Scotties. But far more worthy of attention — and wonder — is how the rink, which is currently ranked 26th in Canada and 53rd in the world, has come so close. How they got and stayed so good without regularly playing against the best and upping their world ranking. And how they consistently deliver when the pressure is highest.

Team McCarville made a major change in the off-season, and the first big test to see if it’s working begins Thursday at the Northern Ontario Scotties. It’s a tournament they need to win to punch a ticket to the big one in February. “The grand total for this team, the goal, everything — we want to win the Scotties,” McCarville says. “That’s my hugest dream ever. It’s why we curl.”

Team McCarville second Kendra Lilly calls to her teammates at the 2023 Scotties.

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arah Potts was on the ice at Fort William Curling Club, where she’d played since before she can even remember, the sport being a focus for her world-champion parents, Rick and Lorraine Lang. And this was a big one: The 25-year-old Potts was playing third in the final of the 2015 Northern Ontario Scotties, the first time the region was recognized with its own berth to nationals.

Potts had been to the Scotties before, but as an alternate. As she worked toward a return trip as a regular, she looked up every so often at two faces in the crowd, cheering her on.

“What are you doing sitting there?” she wondered. “Can you come out here and help us?”

No, Potts wasn’t wishing for her parents, Lorraine and Rick. It was her former teammates, McCarville and Sippala, she wanted beside her. Both had decided after the 2013 season to take a step back from the game, feeling burnt out, wanting to focus on work and family. “It was starting to feel grindy,” says Sippala, who juggles curling with her work as a hospital lab technician. McCarville teaches grade school, and had two young kids at the time. “I planned to take a season or two off, and then I would see from there how happy I was with the break,” she says.

“We decided we wanted to try to be the best quote-unquote ‘amateur’ team in the world.”

The provincial final in their home club signalled an end to break time for both McCarville and Sippala. “We were both like: ‘I can’t sit here. I need to curl,’” McCarville says of the restlessness they felt in the stands. Potts’ team, led by a young Sudbury-based skip named Kendra Lilly, would lose to Tracy Fleury. But McCarville and Sippala began scheming even while they cheered Team Lilly on. McCarville still relays their conversation in a whisper: “Okay, we have to come back,” she says, quiet as stocking feet across a curling club floor. “We’ll get Sarah, and we need someone else.”

Watching Lilly in that final provided the obvious answer. “She’s such a good shooter,” McCarville says at regular volume. “So it was, ‘Okay, we want to play with her too.’”

“Pardon my language, but that was a ‘holy shit’ moment, that they want me on their team,” Lilly says of her reaction when they put the invite to her. “And I was like, ‘Uh, yeah!’”

As eager as she suddenly was to get back, McCarville’s curling break had been instructive. She’d had “1,000 things to do” at all times, but every item on the list was something for her kids, her work, her husband, Mike, or their home. “I was like, ‘Where is my time?’ And I feel like that’s curling. My mind is free. Whatever’s stressing me out, I get on the ice and nothing else matters,” she says. “I didn’t have that, and I realized it that year: This is the me-time that I want, the escape that I want.”

McCarville, Sippala, Lilly and Potts decided things would be different for 2015-2016 Team McCarville. They’d prioritize work and family. They’d play just five or so events a year, and train with specific goals in mind.

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“We got together and made a pact, really,” says Rick Lang, who’s been their coach since the deal was struck. “We decided the only way we can achieve success is to have a lighter schedule, which allows everyone to keep their jobs and do their parenting requirements and have the personal lives they want. And we’d prioritize work ethic around practice and skill development. We didn’t want to just play socially and maybe try to get to the Scotties and see how we did. We decided we wanted to try to be the best quote-unquote ‘amateur’ team in the world.”

The plan paid off immediately: Team McCarville won four events to start their first season together, and the 2016 Northern Ontario provincials. At the 2016 Scotties, they went 7-4 in the round robin to qualify for the playoffs. In Lilly’s first Scotties, and Potts’ first as a regular, they played world No. 2 Jennifer Jones in the semi-final.

“So intimidating, right?” Potts says, eyes wide as saucers. “Jenn Jones. Dawn McEwen — she’s like my idol as a lead. I was just like, ‘What are we doing here?’ The whole thing was nuts.”

In the ninth end, Jones rolled out to give Team McCarville a steal of two, leading to a 7-5 upset win. Potts dropped to her knees on the ice in shock.

“This is my first Scotties, and we’re going to the finals? Oh. My. God. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep,” Potts says. “And our first year together. I don’t think any of us thought we’d make the final. It felt like a fairy tale, to be honest. And then once we made the final, I felt like we were going to win it. Everything had worked out too well, it was supposed to be this crazy underdog win.”

The final against Alberta’s Chelsea Carey was back-and-forth. Carey had hammer in the last end, and had to draw the eight-foot for the win. She floated it in perfectly.

Potts cried when it was over. “Now I look back at the video, I’m like: ‘What a loser. Your first Scotties, you should’ve been so happy,’” the 34-year-old says, laughing. “But we were so close. We were right there.”

Sippala, left, and McCarville plotted a return to curling in the stands, while watching Potts, right, compete at the 2015 Northern Ontario Scotties.

M
cCarville was 14 years old and known by her maiden name, Krista Scharf, when she first started drawing notice on the ice, after a team of 19- and 20-year-olds recruited her to play second, her first competitive season. “I learned a lot about life, travelling with a bunch of 19-year-olds,” she says, smiling.

She’s sitting on a chair in the basement of her team’s Airbnb. McCarville’s long brown hair is down instead of up in the ponytail she sports on the ice, and she’s without the eyeglasses she usually wears out there, too. “I always loved sports, and I was competitive, but I never actually showed my competitiveness until curling started,” she says.

When she was 15, the top junior team in Thunder Bay called her up to be their second. With them, McCarville won her first provincial title and played in her first junior nationals. She started skipping teams a season later, and led her rinks to provincial junior titles the next three years, earning as many appearances at nationals.

She was 22 when two-time Scotties champion Lorraine Lang reached out with her team. They also curled out of Fort William CC, where McCarville’s dad, Ralph, first brought her when she was 10. Skip Tara George was willing to make a position change to land McCarville. “They asked if I would skip their team,” says McCarville, who was a touch intimidated, even if she was used to seeing Lang around the club. “Lorraine’s like, world champion.” But her answer was obviously yes.

“I know that there are still some teams out there that are scared to play us, and I think a lot of that is to do with Krista and just how clutch she is.”

“I remember Lorraine saying to me, ‘Geez, this young Krista McCarville, we’ve gotta try her out,” says Rick Lang (wearer of many hats: Lorraine’s husband, Potts’ dad, Team McCarville’s coach). He remembers watching their first game together in 2005 with a young McCarville at the helm. “I knew from that point, like, ‘Oh man, she’s for real,’” he says. “Even from her very early 20s, confident, a great thrower, so much composure.” She reminded Lang of Al Hackner, the skip he won two Briers and a pair of world championships with.

A couple months after joining the team, McCarville skipped the Thunder Bay foursome to the 2006 Ontario provincial title and went to her first Scotties. “We were okay, we weren’t great,” McCarville says. They finished with a 4-7 record. “The next year, we were a little bit better. We were always building.”

She’d earn her first Scotties podium finish in 2010. McCarville’s three-month-old daughter, Bella, was crying in the stands while Ralph and her mom, Linda, tried to calm their newborn grandchild, who wouldn’t take a bottle. “It was so awesome to have my parents travelling with me,” McCarville says. “But it was the juggle of guilt all the time: I’m not with my team, I should be with my team. But I’m also not with my daughter, and I feel like my parents need a break.” Neither curling nor Bella could have her full attention. Still, Team McCarville earned bronze.

Potts was the team’s alternate then, and she’d soon take over from her mom as lead. “Krista was just incredible to watch that week,” Potts says now, shaking her head.

“Crazy,” adds Sippala, who played second in 2010, her first full season with the team. “Just crazy.”

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Everyone who isn’t the skipper agrees that one big reason they play their best when the stakes are highest is due to the skipper.

“She’s super calm,” says Kelly, herself a former long-time skip who led New Brunswick to 10 Scotties, and won bronze in 2022. “She doesn’t get worked up about anything. She’s very much able to park the last shot and move onto the next shot and plan ahead.”

“There’s no one more composed than Krista,” Sippala adds. “She’s just special. Krista and I work out a lot together, and she’ll go pick up a heavier weight and I’m like, [sigh] ‘I guess I’ll go get another weight.’ She’s the strongest. Damn, she’s just good at everything.”

“I know that there are still some teams out there that are scared to play us, and I think a lot of that is to do with Krista and just how clutch she is,” Lilly says. “We are so confident in her. It’s so cool to watch sometimes — she makes it look so easy.”

It’s noticeable even to those who don’t play with or against her, who’ve watched McCarville lead her team to Olympic trials bronze in 2021, Scotties silver in 2022 and Scotties bronze last year. “For as nice as she is, I think Krista’s a killer on the inside,” says Ben Hebert, the lead for Team Bottcher. “You go to those big events, she’s not there for a participation ribbon.”

Potts says McCarville is such a natural that technical things she needs to work hard at — like sliding — are simple for her skip. “Like, it’s not even fair,” Potts says. “She’s naturally so good, and she’s such a skip. She’s straight-faced the whole time — pressure doesn’t impact her at all. As a lead, that’s what you want.

“I’m just like, ‘Krista, please keep curling.’ Because if Krista wasn’t curling, I don’t know what any of us would do.”

“It’s not just about the curling, right? Honestly, if the best team in the world asked me to play, I would probably say no. I don’t want to play with anyone else. They’re why I love it.”

Potts doesn’t think she’d be curling competitively if not for this team. She’s a full-time social worker, and has twin three-year-old boys, Cohen and Leo, who are both autistic, with varying verbal skills. Potts describes life as “very, very busy,” with “lots of appointments, lots of therapy, lots of extra things going on.” Leo and Cohen are in daycare two days a week, with an extra staff member in the room to help, and therapy for three days. Rick and Lorraine and her husband Jordan’s parents watch them on two afternoons every week. On top of that, Lorraine watches the boys so Potts can practice regularly while Rick coaches.

Potts’ smile takes up her entire face when she talks about her support network, and how happy and joyful her boys are. “We’re all obsessed with them,” she says. She also points out that curling is the break she needs.

“The one time I’m not worrying about my kids is when I’m on the ice. I think it’s the thing that keeps me sane,” Potts says. “But it’s a stretch to curl, even with all the support we have. I love it, but I wouldn’t curl if it wasn’t this team.”

Sippala echoes her best pal on that point. Her hospital shifts start as early as 6 a.m., and since her husband sometimes works early at the gym he co-owns, their two kids sleep over at their grandparents so they can be taken to school in the morning. “On top of all that, this is such a commitment,” Sippala says of curling. “Family, time off work — like, all my vacation. I can’t take time off at Christmas because I need to take my time off for curling. So I wouldn’t be doing it if the team didn’t mean so much to me.

“And this is where I start crying,” Sippala continues, her eyes welling with tears. “But it’s not just about the curling, right? Honestly, if the best team in the world asked me to play, I would probably say no. I don’t want to play with anyone else. They’re why I love it.”

McCarville directs the action at the 2023 Scotties.

O
nce the team decided practice would be their primary focus, there was a noticeable change in dynamic at the rink between McCarville, Potts and Sippala, who practice together in Thunder Bay.

“It became far less social,” Lang says. “That’s because their time is so valuable even to get out for practice. We have what I like to call ‘mindful, purposeful time together,’ when we’re accomplishing something you can only do if you’re fully invested for that couple of hours. The sport demands that, and they’ve been really good at it.”

McCarville, Sippala and Potts are on the ice five days a week, often together, and with Lang, who McCarville points to as a key to their success. “He’s so smart, and he picks up on everything,” she says. “If he sees something we’re not doing, he’s there to tell us right away.”

Lilly usually practices alone in Sudbury, and Kelly’s on her own in Fredericton. Both players keep in touch with the team through video to ensure they’re on the same page technically. They use timers to clock their shots and work on pacing. “I think back to all the heartbreaking losses that we’ve had, and I just want to make sure I’m the most prepared I can be,” says the 32-year-old Lilly, who’s also an operations manager for a financial services group in Sudbury. “I make changes to my practice to keep myself as focused and as driven as ever. And there certainly hasn’t been the temptation to not practice, because we’re so close to what we’ve been working on this whole season.”

Kelly’s most frequent practice partner at home is her partner, Chris. “He calls himself my “practice b—-,’” the 38-year-old says, laughing. “Or he’ll say, ‘I’m your broom b—-.’”

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Kelly is as a senior employment and labour relations officer for the Staff of the Non-Public Funds, Canadian Forces, which supports members, veterans and their families. She’s one of two lead negotiators in the organization, and travels frequently. At the bonspiel in Kemptville, she’s on her laptop working remotely. Still, she hits the ice to practice six or seven days a week for at least an hour, juggling work and curling, and the schedule of her eight-year-old daughter.

“She’s sending videos of herself throwing and asking, ‘Should I be more like this?” McCarville says of Kelly, who’s been working to put more rotation on her draw to better match her teammates’ throws. “She’s very, very into our team and working hard and doing whatever it takes to be the best. A lot of effort, a lot of energy. It’s awesome. She’s out there and we know it.”

Kelly was the change Team McCarville sought after a disappointing bronze medal at the Scotties last season. “We felt we were missing something,” McCarville says. “It’s been eight years we’ve been together, and we’re so close every time. We made all these tweaks on the ice. And then we decided we need to do something different. We all love each other and we want to curl together, but we don’t know what to do differently anymore. So, we decided to add Andrea. And luckily, she said yes when we asked her.”

Their first event as a five-woman team was September 2023 in Kitchener, Ont. Potts stayed back home. (McCarville and Kelly are the constants; Sippala, Potts and Lilly rotate on the front end.) Since the ice wasn’t ready in Thunder Bay, McCarville and Sippala had no practice under their belts before their first bonspiel. But the new version of Team McCarville went out and won the whole thing. “It felt really natural,” Kelly says, grinning.

“Curling is a passion of mine, a hobby. It’s not my life.”

Since that opening win this season, the team has played a busier-than-usual schedule, five events in all leading up to provincials in Little Current this week. Things haven’t gone quite as they’d hoped. They didn’t make it onto the champion’s Bristol board at the North Grenville Women’s Fall Classic, and finished out of the playoffs. There haven’t been any tournament titles since that first bonspiel.

“Every time I’m a spiel, I want to win it,” McCarville says. “I’m leaving my family, I’m leaving my job — I’m losing a lot of money leaving my job for a few days. I’m not here to goof around, I want to win. It’s not going to happen every time, I get that. It’s about the experience, being with the girls, doing all the things that’ll help us win the next one. And get to the Scotties and hopefully win the Scotties.”

The team got together for a training camp earlier this month, and placed second in their last bonspiel. “We’re hoping we’re peaking at the right time, and it’s all going to come together at provincials,” Lilly says.

McCarville is taking three days off from Holy Family School, where she teaches Grade 6 — her son, Kalin, is in her class and will have a supply. Sippala, Potts, Lilly and Kelly are all taking time off from work and time away from their families.

“We get asked this constantly: ‘Why don’t you play more? Why do you have a full-time job? You’re at the level where you can and should play more,’” McCarville says. “But all of us are like, ‘We don’t want to play that much more. We love our lives at home.’

“Curling is a passion of mine, a hobby. It’s not my life,” she adds. “I wanted to be a teacher since I was five years old, and I love my job. I’ve always wanted to be a mum. I’m a Type-A person. I have these goals and dreams for myself, and of course curling is one of them. But again, it’s a hobby. And if I can do it the amount that I do, I can juggle everything and fit it in.”

McCarville has noticed that when her team is playing well, they’re applauded for how much they practice. When they don’t play well, they’re criticized for how infrequently they compete.

“It’s frustrating that way, it’s like we don’t get respected for what we do. It’s always been a little bit harped on,” she says. “But I don’t care. We’re going to play the schedule we want. I’m 41 years old, I’ve done this for a long time, I’m not changing now. And this is what works for us.”

To those who wonder whether this team will ever reach its potential without playing more bonspiels, Potts says it’s a fair query. “And we’re never going to know,” she says, “because we’re not full-time curlers.”

Lang says he’d be lying if he didn’t sometimes wonder how this team would fare if they threw all their curling chips in. “I don’t want myself to think that, just because the reality is that’s not going to happen,” he says. “But I’d love to experience it and see where we could go. I think Krista’s a special talent and this team is really good and committed. I think they could take that next step and be champions, for sure.”

The goal instead is to juggle it all, and still be champions.

“Sometimes I think if we curled like the other teams, we would just be exhausted,” McCarville says. “Would we be excited to go to the next bonspiel? Would we feel up and ready to play again after playing this weekend? I don’t think so.

“I don’t want it to feel like a funeral going to the next bonspiel.”

Team McCarville (left to right: McCarville, Kelly, Lilly, Sippala and Potts) in their new and much admired kit.

E
arly Wednesday morning, McCarville, Sippala, Potts and Lang piled into a car and set off on the 11-hour drive from Thunder Bay to Little Current ahead of their first game of provincials, which is Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.

Kelly flew into Sudbury and made the hour-and-a-half drive with Lilly. “I can feel those flutters in my stomach because this week means so much to us,” Lilly says. “But we try to turn that nervousness into excitement. We have an opportunity to represent our province, which we just want so bad.”

So bad this year, and so so so bad next year, when the Scotties return to Thunder Bay. It’s a do-over for the team, since their home city last hosted the Scotties in 2022, when the stands were empty most of the time and limited to few fans for playoffs, because of Covid restrictions.

“It was like being in Thunder Bay but imprisoned in a cell — you couldn’t even walk outside to the parking lot,” Potts says. “My family’s two blocks away. Poor Lorraine is two blocks from the curling club and she couldn’t come watch those early games. So thank god we’re getting the Scotties back. When we did have fans, for the final, it really felt like we were the home team.”

Still, even with the support, Team McCarville lost 9-6 to the defending champions, Team Einarson.

“That one really hurt,” McCarville says. “And you feel like, ‘Am I ever going to get there again?’”

“That took a while to get over,” Sippala agrees. “Oh man, it always does. You just have a sense of broken heartedness. You live your life but when you think about it, you’re like, ‘Ouch!’ You get a twinge, right there.” She points at her heart.

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All those heartbreakers behind them now, Team McCarville comes into these next big events feeling strong, with the addition of Kelly at third. “I would say that this is the most stacked that we’ve ever been, and I would certainly be scared to play us,” Lilly says.

“I truly do see us winning the Scotties, and in fact, when I joined this team, I think it was the first time I actually had that feeling and I could visually see us on the podium, winning gold,” Kelly says, grinning. “It was pretty amazing.”

But first things first: Team McCarville has to win the Northern Ontario Scotties on Sunday afternoon, and then McCarville, Potts, Sippala and Lang will hop in the car and drive home, overnight, so the players can get to their jobs Monday morning.

If all goes to plan they’ll show up in Calgary a few weeks later and do what they’ve been training to do for most of their lives.

“Now it’s starting to get to where it’s like, okay, we’re not happy just to be here at the Scotties anymore,” Potts says. “We wanna friggin’ win it.”

“We’re so close that it’s got to be coming, because I want it to,” McCarville adds. “I need it to.”

Photo Credits

Andrew Klaver/Curling Canada (4); courtesy of Rick Lang.

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Geoff Robins/CP carruthers1280 Carruthers, Sluchinski, Koe complete field for Montana’s Brier feed_column Sun, 11 Feb 2024 20:35:29 EST Tue, 13 Feb 2024 13:31:46 EST Canadian Press Alberta’s Aaron Sluchinski, Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers and wild-card Kevin Koe completed the 18-team field for the national men’s curling championship Sunday.

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Alberta’s Aaron Sluchinski, Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers and wild-card Kevin Koe completed the 18-team field for the national men’s curling championship Sunday.

Carruthers, whose team is skipped by Brad Jacobs, doubled Braden Calvert 6-3 in Manitoba’s men’s final in Stonewall.

Jacobs, winner of 11 Northern Ontario championships and an Olympic gold medal in 2014, came out of retirement to join Carruthers’ team last year. Carruthers announced in December his shift to throwing third stones to make Jacobs his skip.

Jacobs will wear Manitoba colours March 1-10 at the Montana’s Brier in Regina.

“This was an eye-opening experience for me,” Jacobs told Curl Manitoba. “I’ve never played a provincial championship in Manitoba before.

“There’s a ton of talent here. There’s great young teams and players coming up. Team Calvert, obviously a world-class team. They played awesome today. I feel for them right now. It sucks to lose that final, but I’m sure they’ll keep working hard and we have a ton of respect for them.”

Jacobs, Carruthers, second Derek Samagalski and Connor Njegovan led 4-3 after eight ends Sunday. Calvert blanked the ninth and gave up a steal of two in the 10th.

Sluchinski upset Koe 6-3 in Alberta’s final Sunday. Sluchinski, third Jeremy Harty, second Kerr Drummond and lead Dylan Webster from the Airdrie Curling Club scored two in the first end and stole a point in the seventh to lead 5-1.

After blanking the eighth, Koe scored two to trail by two coming home without hammer. Sluchinski hit against three Koe stones to secure the provincial title in Hinton.

Four-time Brier champion Koe earned the third and final wild-card berth by virtue of this season’s highest national rank among non-qualified men’s teams at No. 3.

The 2024 Brier will feature three teams from Alberta.

Under new Curling Canada entry criteria, Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher and Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone pre-qualified for the 2024 Brier last year based on their rankings at the end of the 2022-23 season. Gushue returns to the Brier as defending champion.

Other teams headed to Regina are Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen, B.C.’s Catlin Schneider, Newfoundland and Labrador’s Andrew Symonds, New Brunswick’s James Grattan, Northern Ontario’s Trevor Bonot, Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories, Ontario’s Glenn Howard, Nova Scotia’s Matthew Manuel, Nunavut’s Shane Latimer, Prince Edward Island’s Tyler Smith, Quebec’s Julien Tremblay and Yukon’s Thomas Scoffin.

The winner represents Canada at the world men’s championship March 30 to April 7 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

The 18-team Canadian women’s curling championship starts Friday in Calgary.

Four-time defending Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion Kerri Einarson returns as Team Canada with Ontario’s Rachel Homan and Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones pre-qualified based on last season’s rankings.

The lineup also includes Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville, B.C.’s Clancy Grandy and Corryn Brown, Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges, Kerry Galusha of the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia’s Heather Smith, Alberta’s Selena Sturmay, Manitoba’s Kaitlyn Lawes and Kate Cameron, New Brunswick’s Melissa Adams, Stacie Curtis of Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario’s Danielle Inglis, Jane DiCarlo of Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan’s Skylar Ackerman and Yukon’s Bayly Scoffin. Nunavut will not enter a team.

The Hearts winner Feb. 25 represents Canada at the women’s world curling championship March 16-24 in Sydney, N.S.

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Curling sn-article
17078475075883045 ‘The Brand’: Team Carruthers is more than just a name full_width Tue, 13 Feb 2024 13:19:45 EST Tue, 13 Feb 2024 13:19:45 EST Sportsnet Video Call them what you want, but Reid Carruthers and his teammates are out to call themselves Team Manitoba and Team Canada.

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Curling videohttps://cf-images.us-east-1.prod.boltdns.net/v1/static/1704050871/731b2580-59e8-4c5a-84b0-c0bf8dac6140/5d79302c-9387-48aa-aa63-e78df12d651d/160x90/match/image.jpgSportsnet Video bc-video
inside_curling1280 Inside Curling podcast: Curling Canada CEO Nolan Thiessen feed_column Tue, 30 Jan 2024 11:15:11 EST Tue, 30 Jan 2024 11:15:12 EST Sportsnet Staff Kevin Martin, Warren Hansen and Jim Jerome check in with Curling Canada CEO Nolan Thiessen, review the playoff results for the provincial and territorial Scotties and Brier, and much more.

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Kevin Martin, Warren Hansen and Jim Jerome check in with Curling Canada CEO Nolan Thiessen, review the playoff results for the provincial and territorial Scotties and Brier, and much more.

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Curling sn-article
Anil Mungal/GSOC homan_rachel1280 Eight Ends: Team Homan still looking to improve as season intensifies full_width Tue, 23 Jan 2024 20:02:18 EST Tue, 23 Jan 2024 20:02:23 EST Jonathan Brazeau Rachel Homan and her Ottawa-based club have been on a dominant run this season with back-to-back Grand Slam title wins, but they’re still looking to tighten things up with the Scotties Tournament of Hearts on the horizon.

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Eight Ends is your source for insight and analysis from the Grand Slam of Curling circuit. We’re not Olympic bobsledders either.

FIRST END: Rachel Homan and her Ottawa-based team have been having a dominant season that’s reminiscent of, well, Team Homan. This is a skip who has now won a record-extending 15 Grand Slam of Curling women’s titles, so nothing’s new for her team.

Still, even by Homan’s standards, it’s been an outstanding season. Homan has competed in seven events, reached six finals and captured five titles. Her team’s overall win-loss record is 38-5 — 20-5 in Grand Slams and 18-0 outside of the series.

Homan captured the Co-op Canadian Open women’s title following a 5-4 victory over Silvana Tirinzoni during Sunday’s final in Red Deer, Alta.

Homan’s next event is the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, her team pre-qualified based on last season’s points, and second Emma Miskew believes they still have some areas they need to tighten up heading into the national women’s championship less than a month away. After all, they needed to steal in an extra end to win the Co-op Canadian Open final — forcing Team Tirinzoni’s Alina Pätz into a difficult draw that rolled deep — and even their loss during pool play was the result of Homan giving up a steal to Eun-Jung Kim’s team in the eighth end.

“We’re not perfect and I think that’s what you want,” Miskew said. “I don’t think you want to be perfect all season because it’s impossible just to stay in, so we know what we need to keep working on and we’re excited to keep the season going.”

SECOND END: Bruce Mouat and his Scottish squad had struggled in the Grand Slams this season, missing the playoffs twice and getting knocked out in the quarterfinals once (i.e. they still didn’t win a playoff game). That’s despite having a strong 2023-24 campaign elsewhere, winning three tour titles plus the European championship.

If you extend their Slam slump into the tail end of last season, they had missed the playoffs in four of the previous five tournaments. Sure, they could be excused here and there as the Princess Auto Players’ Championship took place right after they had won the world championship, so they were understandably exhausted, and they played as three during the Champions Cup as Bobby Lammie was injured. They played short-handed again during last month’s WFG Masters with third Grant Hardie on the mend.

Team Mouat returned to the top form in the series, winning a sixth Grand Slam title with a 6-5 victory over Brendan Bottcher’s Calgary-based club in the Co-op Canadian Open men’s final. Mouat also finished the event with an unblemished 6-0 record.

“As much as winning the tour events are amazing, everyone knows there are a lot more eyeballs on the Slams,” Hardie said. “It’s the top 16 teams and brilliant ice conditions. It means everything to be able to win it and … hopefully, we can keep going and competing in a few more rather than missing playoffs like we did last year.”

THIRD END: Mouat was already in the record books as the youngest men’s skip to win a Grand Slam title when he captured the 2017 National at age 23. Mouat, who is now 29 years old, added another feat with his Co-op Canadian Open title victory as he became just the sixth men’s skip to complete a career Grand Slam.

The four original majors in the series hold extra prestige given their history, having been around since the inception of the series plus they award larger prize purses. Kevin Martin, Wayne Middaugh, Glenn Howard, Jeff Stoughton and Brad Gushue are the other five career Grand Slam men’s winners and that’s quite an impressive and exclusive list for Mouat to add his name to.

“It’s a pretty cool club to be a part of,” Mouat said. “Some amazing athletes out there, some guys that I watched growing up and inspired me to take part in curling. I was glad that I was able to get into that club as well.”

Attention now turns to who could be next to join the group and for that, we’ll have to jump over to the women’s division. Anna Hasselborg is the only member of the career Grand Slam club on the women’s side, but Homan is only missing the Princess Auto Players’ Championship from her hardware collection. It’ll be a key storyline to follow when that event rolls along.

FOURTH END: A funny moment occurred early in the week when Mouat was asked what it means to have Hardie back in the lineup.

With Hardie hovering nearby in the hallway, Mouat deadpanned: “I’d rather he wasn’t here, to be fair.”

All kidding aside (and after Hardie scurried away) Mouat said it was nice to have him return following minor surgery last month and praised his play. Hardie finished second among all thirds, averaging 90 per cent, through the tournament.

The rule of thirds also extends to Team Homan as Tracy Fleury finished first among all women’s players at the position with a 90 per cent average as well.

“She’s always a difference-maker, so no change there,” Homan said after the semifinals where Fleury shot 96 per cent. “She’s playing great and just battling out there.”

Hardie and Fleury might not have had their best games in the finals, but their teams aren’t reaching the finals in the first place without them.

FIFTH END: Welcome to the Slams, Danny Casper and Selena Sturmay. Both skips were playing in their first top-tier tournament in the series and scored their first wins during pool play Thursday: Casper upset Kevin Koe 9-8 and Sturmay defeated Jolene Campbell 6-1. Casper qualified for entry into the event after winning the HearingLife Tour Challenge Tier 2 title in October while Sturmay received a late invitation after Stefania Constantini withdrew days before the start due to medical reasons.

It’s rare for a team to drop out of a Grand Slam after the field has been finalized and the schedule has been set. Eun-Jung Kim withdrew from the 2022 Players’ Championship when a couple of members of her team tested positive for COVID-19, however, that event also used triple knockout brackets, so re-seeding the teams wasn’t as problematic. The Co-op Canadian Open featured round-robin play, which would have required a complete overhaul of the match schedule after fans had already purchased single-draw tickets to see specific matchups.

Given how tight the timing was, it’s understandable that organizers opted to invite the top-ranked team from within the province. Even then, the Grand Slam of Curling reserves the right to invite a sponsor’s exemption — typically a local team. Although it wasn’t implemented this time, the series could have also used that as a reason to invite Sturmay.

SIXTH END: Blank ends have been a part of curling for a long time and they’re not going away either even with rule modifications over the years to increase scoring. I don’t know what the solution is but I do know what it’s not and that’s taking away the hammer. It sounds simple but all that will do is reverse the situation: the team without the hammer will do everything in its power to keep the house empty.

Not all blank ends are the same either and sometimes teams have to pull off exciting shots to escape from danger as we saw from Ross Whyte not once but twice this week.

The second time was a bit of a fluke though as it wasn’t the shot he called. Still, are you not entertained?

SEVENTH END: Speaking of Whyte, his team’s surge this season — plus the emergence of compatriot James Craik’s club — has certainly made next month’s Scottish curling championship more intriguing. Scotland selects its reps to the world championships and even though Mouat is the reigning men’s gold medallist and ranked No. 2 in the world, there’s no guarantee he’ll get to go to defend the title. It’s possible Whyte (No. 5) or Craik (No. 11) could get the call should they win the national championship.

The Co-op Canadian Open was pretty much a preview as all three qualified for the playoffs and Mouat had to beat both Craik in the quarterfinals and Whyte in the semis to reach the championship game.

“Of course, you hear all the noise and stuff there,” Hardie said. “There’s no doubt Team Whyte and Team Craik are getting a lot better. It’s good competition for us. They’re going to keep pushing us all and I’m sure we will be pushing them on as well.

“The Scottish championships in two weeks should be really interesting and again we’re going to have to play at a similar level to win that.”

EIGHTH END: Joël Retornaz’s remarkable run of consecutive Grand Slam titles came to an end during the Co-op Canadian Open quarterfinals when his Italian club was eliminated in the quarterfinals with a 5-4 loss to Whyte. Coincidentally, Retornaz defeated Whyte in last month’s WFG Masters to stretch the streak to a record-tying three championship victories in a single season.

First, hats off to Retornaz as winning three Grand Slams in a row in a single season is quite an accomplishment and only a handful of other teams have been able to achieve. Another mind-blowing number: Retornaz had fewer losses over the previous three Grand Slams combined (two) than he had this week alone (three).

The Grand Slam of Curling season isn’t over yet and Retornaz has one more opportunity to become the first to win four (non-consecutive) titles in a single season in the series. That leads us to …

EXTRA END: The Grand Slam of Curling is now on a break with its fifth and final event of the season, the Princess Auto Players’ Championship, taking place April 9-14 at Toronto’s Mattamy Athletic Centre. Only the top 12 in the world in the men’s and women’s divisions receive invitations to the prestigious major tournament, so you’ll want to keep an eye on the rankings until the qualification cutoff date of March 11.

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Anil Mungal/GSOC mouat_bruce1280 Mouat captures Co-op Canadian Open men’s title to complete career Grand Slam feed_column Sun, 21 Jan 2024 16:07:09 EST Sun, 21 Jan 2024 18:28:15 EST Jonathan Brazeau Bruce Mouat secured the Co-op Canadian Open men’s title with a 6-5 win over Brendan Bottcher in Sunday’s final and completed a career Grand Slam.

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RED DEER, Alta. — Bruce Mouat and his Scottish squad secured the Co-op Canadian Open men’s championship with a 6-5 victory over Calgary’s Team Brendan Bottcher during Sunday’s final at Servus Arena.

It’s the sixth Grand Slam of Curling title for Mouat, third Grant Hardie, second Bobby Lammie and lead Hammy McMillan Jr.

Mouat also completed a career Grand Slam as the Canadian Open was the last of the four majors in the series left to check off on the list. He joins an exclusive club that includes Kevin Martin, Wayne Middaugh, Glenn Howard, Jeff Stoughton and Brad Gushue. Anna Hasselborg is the only skip who has accomplished the feat in the women’s division.

“This one’s pretty special,” Mouat said. “It’s the first time we’ve won the Canadian Open. We’ve not had a great run every time we come to the Canadian Open, so it’s nice to win this one and that checks off the four major ones that we started with.”

“It’s a pretty cool club to be a part of,” he added. “Some amazing athletes out there, some guys that I watched growing up and inspired me to take part in curling. I was glad that I was able to get into that club as well.”

Mouat, whose previous Grand Slam title win came at the 2022 Players’ Championship, struggled in the series during 2023 missing the playoffs four times. The team returned to top form this week by posting a perfect 7-0 record to earn $42,000.

“It’s amazing, especially after what felt like a bit of a wait for it with such a good 2021-22 season,” Hardie said. “It’s brilliant to get back into the winner’s circle and hopefully we can just keep going for the rest of 2024.”

It’s been a tale of two seasons as Mouat has won three tour events plus gold at the European Championships despite their earlier woes in the Grand Slams.

“As much as winning the tour events are amazing, everyone knows there are a lot more eyeballs on the Slams,” Hardie said. “It’s the top 15 teams, 16 teams and brilliant ice conditions. It means everything to be able to win it and as I said, hopefully, we can keep going and competing in a few more rather than missing playoffs like we did last year.”

Mouat’s unblemished record gave him the hammer to start and he was able to convert for a deuce. Bottcher made a hit on Mouat’s rock, but it jammed and stuck around at the back of the 12-foot circle to allow Mouat to hit for two.

Bottcher matched with a hit in the second then forced Mouat to a single in the third.

It looked like Mouat was in a world of trouble in the fourth until he made a great draw to hide under cover. Bottcher attempted to redirect off of his guard and in to get to Mouat’s stone and possibly score three, however, he didn’t hit it hard enough as it remained at the back of the eight-foot circle for a steal.

“I think that’s kind of what we’ve come to expect from Bruce,” Hardie said. “He’s so cool under the pressure. Although we didn’t set him up really well in the fourth, that shot he made to get us out of it and thankfully got a bit of a break with Bottcher missing but sometimes that’s what you need to go and win a final.”

Mouat said he thinks he would have attempted the same risky shot that Bottcher tried to play.

“It’s those kinds of shots that win you finals, so if you make it then great for them,” he said. “Obviously, it was in our benefit this time. The important thing is that we’re making them play tough shots and that’s exactly what we did.”

The five-time Grand Slam champion Bottcher was forced to draw for a single in the fifth. 

Mouat, who shot 95 per cent in the game, pulled off a great runback double in the sixth, then capitalized after Bottcher flashed his last to draw for a deuce and take a 6-3 lead.

Bottcher was held to one point again in the seventh and Mouat took the hammer plus a two-point advantage into the final frame. Although Bottcher sat two rocks tight together, Mouat just needed to blast one of them out.

“We started off really well, made a bit of a silly error in the second end just playing a little too heavy and missing the freeze,” Mouat said. “We made them play a really tough one in the fourth end. It’s the final, so there’s a bit of extra pressure and we made them play a really tough shot. We were fortunate enough that it didn’t come out for them and gave us the momentum again.”

Mouat made it to the final after defeating compatriots Team James Craik in the quarterfinals and Team Ross Whyte in the semifinals.

“Of course, you hear all the noise and stuff there,” Hardie said. “There’s no doubt Team Whyte and Team Craik are getting a lot better. It’s good competition for us. They’re going to keep pushing us all and I’m sure we will be pushing them on as well. The Scottish championships in two weeks should be really interesting, and again, we’re going to have to play at a similar level to win that.”

Bottcher, third Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Hebert finished the week with a 5-2 record and collected $30,000.

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inside_curling1280 Inside Curling: Across the pond with Bruce Mouat feed_column Fri, 26 Jan 2024 15:11:14 EST Fri, 26 Jan 2024 15:17:38 EST Sportsnet Staff Today we have special guest Bruce Mouat In the House! Kevin, Warren and Jim talk to Bruce about Team Mouat’s journey to the top of the podium last weekend at the Co-op Canadian Open (3:15).

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Today we have special guest Bruce Mouat In the House! Kevin, Warren and Jim talk to Bruce about Team Mouat’s journey to the top of the podium last weekend at the Co-op Canadian Open (3:15). Next up, Warren holds court on What’s Happening Around the Curling World as the guys recap everything that went down in Red Deer, plus they unpack the Provincial and Territorial championships that were completed for spots at the Brier and Scotties (19:45). In Hot Rock Topics: At the GSOC this past weekend, Scotland had three teams in the final eight and the average age of all 12 players was under 30. What does this mean for international curling and Canada’s strength going forward (38:50)? And finally, on What are You Hearing? A famous curling club in Scotland is possibly going to be closing its doors…

Inside Curling is hosted by Kevin Martin, Warren Hansen and Jim Jerome. Recorded, Edited and Mixed by Mike Rogerson.

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17058670295863311 Bottcher misses after Mouat hits sweet raise double, allowing him to score two to close end feed_column Sun, 21 Jan 2024 14:58:52 EST Sun, 21 Jan 2024 14:58:52 EST Sportsnet Video In a big turn of events to close out the sixth end, Scotland’s Bruce Mouat hits a beautiful raise double takeout and in response, Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher totally botches a shot that goes through the house and lets Mouat score an easy two.

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17057827865862271 Ross Whyte clears the house with fortunate angle raise vs. Retornaz feed_column Sat, 20 Jan 2024 15:33:51 EST Sat, 20 Jan 2024 15:33:51 EST Sportsnet Video Watch as Ross Whyte aims for an angle raise with the final rock in the 4th end against Team Retornaz and ends up clearing out the house to keep the hammer at the GSOC’s Co-op Canadian Open.

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17056439465860931 Whyte successfully delivers risky shot to get the blank to end seventh feed_column Fri, 19 Jan 2024 01:03:01 EST Fri, 19 Jan 2024 01:03:01 EST Sportsnet Video Watch as Ross Whyte makes a great shot to get the blank and keep the hammer for the final end against Team Bottcher.

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Jeff McIntosh/CP howard_glenn1280 With Glenn Howard out with knee injury, son Scott skips three-man team feed_column Thu, 25 Jan 2024 15:46:43 EST Thu, 25 Jan 2024 15:46:44 EST Canadian Press With Glenn Howard out with an injury, son Scott Howard will move from vice to skip while his father shifts to a coaching role this week at the Ontario curling championship.

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A three-man lineup has worked well at times for the members of Team Glenn Howard. 

They’re hoping a short-handed setup will lead to success again this week at the Ontario curling championship. 

With Howard out with an injury, son Scott Howard will move from vice to skip while his father shifts to a coaching role starting Thursday in Dorchester, Ont.

“We made a team decision last week that we’re going to just stick with three,” Scott said. “It seemed to work for us in the past. We all feel comfortable and that’s how we’re going to play it out.”

In early December, the elder Howard said he’d be out indefinitely after his surgically repaired left knee “seized up” at the Nufloors Penticton Curling Classic. He met with doctors and specialists in recent weeks but the 61-year-old said he’s not ready to return.

“My knee is not co-operating,” he said in a text message. “Very disappointing but what can you do.” 

The veteran skip has had knee problems in recent years but managed to play in some events earlier this season. The flare-up in Penticton, B.C., came midway through the bonspiel and forced his team to adjust on the fly.

Scott, lead Tim March and second David Mathers were up for the challenge. Over the final two days, they beat Canadian teams skipped by Kevin Koe, Aaron Sluchinski and Brendan Bottcher before topping American John Shuster’s side in the final.

“We knew our roles and we had to step up,” Scott said. 

The team pocketed $20,000 with the title and also secured a berth in this week’s playdowns at the FlightExec Centre near London, Ont. 

Three-man teams are used infrequently but sometimes can be quite effective. 

One of the more notable examples came in 2022 when Brad Gushue won the Brier without vice Mark Nichols, who missed the final weekend due to a positive COVID-19 test. 

Scott Howard said his side, which does not have a regular alternate, considered bringing in a substitute player but decided against it. 

“Obviously you want four people on your team,” he said. “That’s the main priority and it’s the best option. But with having three, we know each other and we’re all good buddies. We know how everyone thinks and the strategy.

“So to bring in (a new) fourth player that we don’t know as well just throws off the dynamics of the team.”

Scott skipped the team to a title at the Stu Sells Halifax event in 2018 — topping Gushue in the final — while Glenn was in Europe tending to coaching duties. He has also filled in for his father when needed at provincial playdowns and the occasional Grand Slam event.

“I feel confident and you just have to focus a little bit more,” Scott said. “That’s what our game comes down to.”

If a replacement for one of the remaining three players is required due to illness or injury, the team could still turn to Adam Spencer. He has served as a spare over the years and lives fairly close to the London, Ont.-area venue.

There are pros and cons to using a short-handed team.

Players on three-man rinks get a chance to throw more stones and develop a better feel for paths on the ice. One of the big downsides though is the physical toll with the broom. 

“The fatigue is going to set in at some point,” Scott said. “Just with how many rocks you’re going to have to sweep. There’s no breaks in between. 

“So yes, there are some advantages but there are some disadvantages too.”

Toronto’s John Epping and Sam Mooibroek of Whitby, Ont., are some of the other headliners in the 12-team triple-knockout event. The winning team will represent Ontario at the March 1-10 Montana’s Brier in Regina. 

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17056149125860372 Dunstone hits the nice runback to score two in the 5th and extend his lead over Retornaz feed_column Thu, 18 Jan 2024 17:01:53 EST Thu, 18 Jan 2024 17:01:53 EST Sportsnet Video Check out this shot from Matt Dunstone, hits the nice runback in the 5th end to score two against Team Retornaz, and take the 4-1 lead.

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inside_curling1280 Inside Curling Podcast: Taking Our Time with Kevin Koe full_width Tue, 16 Jan 2024 09:22:54 EST Tue, 16 Jan 2024 09:22:55 EST Sportsnet Staff In the House we have special guest Kevin Koe, fresh off his big win in Lloydminster.

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In the House we have special guest Kevin Koe, fresh off his big win in Lloydminster.

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CP/Jonathan Hayward Nolan Thiessen Nolan Thiessen appointed Curling Canada’s new CEO feed_column Wed, 03 Jan 2024 11:46:53 EST Wed, 03 Jan 2024 11:46:59 EST Canadian Press Nolan Thiessen has been named Curling Canada’s new chief executive officer.

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OTTAWA — Nolan Thiessen has been named Curling Canada’s new chief executive officer.

He replaces Katherine Henderson, who left the organization in August to become Hockey Canada’s CEO.

Thiessen, a three-time Canadian and former world men’s curling champion, has been a member of Curling Canada’s senior management team for the past four years.

The 43-year-old played for teams that won the Brier in 2010, 2014 and 2015 and played lead for Kevin Koe’s team that won a men’s world title in 2010.

He became an athlete liaison for Curling Canada after he retired from competitive curling in 2016. He was hired by the organization two years later and most recently served as executive director of marketing and fan experience.

Thiessen takes over for interim CEO Danny Lamoureux, who postponed his retirement to help with the transition after Henderson’s departure.

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inside_curling1280 Inside Curling podcast: Year in Review feed_column Wed, 27 Dec 2023 09:51:31 EST Wed, 27 Dec 2023 09:52:50 EST Sportsnet Staff It’s time for our annual Holiday Special! Kevin, Warren and Jim are joined by Rob Faulds and Ted Wyman for a round table review on this past year in curling.

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Anil Mungal/GSOC homan_rachel_1280 Eight Ends: Homan, Retornaz look to keep on trucking in 2024 full_width Mon, 18 Dec 2023 22:10:44 EST Mon, 18 Dec 2023 22:11:26 EST Jonathan Brazeau The WFG Masters has come to a close and it’s time for the holiday break, but Team Homan and Team Retornaz are already looking forward to getting back on the ice for the next Grand Slam of Curling event.

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SASKATOON — The WFG Masters has come to a close and it’s time for the holiday break, but Team Rachel Homan and Team Joël Retornaz are already looking forward to getting back on the ice in January for the next Grand Slam of Curling event, the Co-op Canadian Open, in Red Deer, Alta.

After both clubs had phenomenal fall seasons, capped with title victories in the Grand Slam of Curling tournament, who could blame them? Homan and her Ottawa-based club doubled up on Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni 8-4 while Retornaz’s crew from Italy edged out Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte 3-2 in Sunday’s finals at Merlis Belsher Place.

It was the fourth title on tour this season for Homan, who has played in five finals through six events and is now ranked second in the world right behind the reigning world champion Tirinzoni.

“It’s a nice time to take a little break but we’ll be working hard and we’re excited to get back on the ice in January and get to Red Deer,” Team Homan second Emma Miskew said. “Keep playing, keep building, keep learning and getting games together.”

Meanwhile, it was the third consecutive Grand Slam title for Retornaz, who tops the men’s rankings and now aims to become the first to win four consecutive championships in a single season.

“We really want to keep rolling,” Retornaz said. “It doesn’t end here. The year is ending now but our curling season is not ending. … We’re going to for sure enjoy (being with) our families during Christmas and festivities, then hit the ice and be ready for the next event in January.”

FIRST END: Every Grand Slam title victory has been unbelievable for Retornaz, but he better start believing as the dream has become a reality. The 40-year-old skip only made his series debut in April 2022 at the Princess Auto Players’ Championship and within a year plus a few days he’s won four championships. Retornaz captured his first during last season’s WFG Masters and rolled off victories at the HearingLife Tour Challenge in October and last month’s KIOTI National.

Full kudos to Retornaz and his teammates third Amos Mosaner, second Sebastiano Arman and lead Mattia Giovanella (plus coach Ryan Fry) as they saved their best for last shooting 92 per cent in the final.

Team Retornaz joined a pretty exclusive club as Team Kevin Martin (2006-07), Team Brendan Bottcher (2018-19) and Team Brad Jacobs (2019-20) are the only other men’s teams who have won three straight Slam titles in a single season. Homan has pulled it off twice (2015-16 and 2018-19) and Team Anna Hasselborg once (2019-20) in the women’s division.

“If you look at the names of other skips who have won three Slams in a row, you’re talking about the elite of world curling and the history of curling,” Retornaz said. “I think it’s very special for me. It’s me putting my name there, but I have to give a lot of credit to my team because they’re not named in that group but, of course, I couldn’t do it without my team and as I said, I’m super proud of them. we’re really doing a great job, teamwork is amazing including coach and everybody. It’s really special to be in that group of people.” 

Now Retornaz is on the cusp of history targetting four straight. Even winning four total in one season hasn’t been done before. Is it January yet?

SECOND END: The margin for error in Grand Slam events is super slim and that’s before we even get into tiebreakers and draw-to-the-button shootout totals. Just look at Retornaz’s week. During a 3-1 run through round-robin play, Retornaz lost his first game against Team Reid Carruthers and stole the winning point in an extra end to defeat Team Kevin Koe. If Retornaz had not secured a narrow victory over Edin and had lost that game, he would have fallen into the tiebreaker and faced Whyte then and there!

THIRD END: Homan is the master of the WFG Masters. In the 11 times the women’s division has been held at the event, Homan reached seven finals with four title victories. Only one other women’s skip has won the Masters more than once: Tracy Fleury, who now throws third on Team Homan.

“Unbelievable,” Homan said after winning her record-extending 14th Grand Slam women’s title. “What a team effort to win that one and phenomenal shot-making across the board. Tirinzoni was putting rocks in great spots and coming back in the game after that four, it was tight, and then able to make that last one as a team shot is a great way to go out in 2023.”

It’s also worth noting that while one team has won all three men’s titles in the Grand Slam of Curling this season, there have been three different women’s champions. Team Jennifer Jones took the HearingLife Tour Challenge while Team Eun-Ji Gim claimed the KIOTI National (defeating Homan by a single point in the final no less).

FOURTH END: Hat tip to Team Whyte. The Scottish squad took a huge leap forward reaching its first Grand Slam final, having made it to the semifinal round for the first time earlier this season in the HearingLife Tour Challenge. Whyte’s opponent in that round also happened to be Retornaz. Do you sense a rivalry brewing?

After finishing 2-2 in the round-robin and needing a detour through the tiebreakers, Whyte had a marathon Saturday, knocking off the three teams ahead of him in the world rankings. Whyte eliminated Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin in the 7 a.m. tiebreakers, Canada’s Team Brad Gushue in the afternoon quarterfinals and Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller in the evening semifinals to reach Championship Sunday. Who could sleep after that?

“I reckon in two or three hours I’m just going to absolutely conk out but right now I’m not even thinking about sleep,” a beaming Whyte said. “Just a wee bite to eat, we’ll get rested up and have some good fun.”

Oddly enough, the last skip to go tiebreaker-to-title in the men’s division is Bruce Mouat, who pulled off the feat at the 2017 National and became the youngest men’s skip to win a championship in the series at age 23. The 25-year-old Whyte has served as Mouat’s alternate in the past, so it’s no surprise he came close to following in his footsteps.

Whyte earned praise from Retornaz following their Sunday showdown.

“We knew we were facing a very strong team,” Retornaz said, “and winning with the last shot in the last end shows that both teams were even on the ice even though we always kept a small advantage.”

FIFTH END: Trucks? Trucks. This isn’t the first time we’ve written about a skip’s hat (see Dunstone’s 1997 Calgary Brier leather cap), but Retornaz’s lucky lid was garnering attention, so here’s the story. Before the KIOTI National in Pictou Country, N.S., Retornaz was in Halifax for a couple of days and was strolling through the mall when he came across Donut Media’s Trucks hat in Zumiez.

“I saw a bunch of hats, I liked this one and I bought it,” Retornaz said. “No reason for it. It’s a simple story. It was a good $30 investment.”

Indeed, not that Retornaz needs any more luck. Although, half of everything is luck. (And the other half? Fate.)

SIXTH END: Whyte was one of four Scottish men’s teams competing in the WFG Masters alongside teams skipped by Mouat, James Craik (who just made his top-tier debut at the KIOTI National) and Cameron Bryce (making his top-tier debut here). Add Rebecca Morrison from the women’s division and that’s a record five Scottish teams in a single Grand Slam event. Hey, remember Scotland invented this sport, after all.

Mouat said he was excited to hear five teams had received invitations.

“It just proves that we’re doing something right over in the national curling academy,” he said. “Pretty proud of all of us for working so hard and getting to the Slams.”

Whyte was the last man standing among his compatriots and the only one to qualify for the playoffs. Craik and Bryce started the week 0-3 but both ended things on a high note picking up wins in their final round-robin games. Mouat, second Bobby Lammie and lead Hammy McMillan Jr. played as three without third Grant Hardie, who was recuperating from recent surgery. Mouat went 2-2 but missed out on the tiebreaker game for the eighth and final playoff spot as Whyte and Edin held better draw-to-the-button shootout totals.

“It’s nice to see friendly faces out here,” Whyte said. “Everyone’s a friend and it’s good to be catching up. It’s great to see and hopefully, we can continue that.”

SEVENTH END: Brad is back. Skip Reid Carruthers was looking for a spark on his team as he entered the WFG Masters ranked 16th in the world and on the bubble for future Grand Slam of Curling events. Carruthers certainly sparked something by switching to play third and handing the reins to Brad Jacobs.

Jacobs has been there, done that as a skip — winning Olympic gold and seven Grand Slam titles before joining Team Carruthers full-time this season — and returned to form out the gate, defeating Retornaz. The whole team seemed rejuvenated throwing 93 per cent as a unit against the No. 1 club in the world. (For the record, Retornaz was hat-less during the game.)

A hat-wearing Retornaz took the rematch in the quarterfinals, but qualifying for the playoffs was a huge bounce back for Team Carruthers after going 0-4 through the KIOTI National. It also saved them from missing out on the next Grand Slam as the Winnipeg-based club surged up the world rankings and is now 11th.

EIGHTH END: The Grand Slam of Curling season resumes in the New Year with the Co-op Canadian Open, Jan. 16-21, at Servus Arena in Red Deer, Alta. Monday was the qualification cutoff date, so expect invitations to be sent out and a full list of teams to be announced as soon as they RSVP.

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Anil Mungal/GSOC homan_rachel_1280 Homan wins record-extending 14th Grand Slam women’s title at WFG Masters feed_column Sun, 17 Dec 2023 15:28:09 EST Sun, 17 Dec 2023 17:41:21 EST Jonathan Brazeau Rachel Homan claimed her record-extending 14th Grand Slam of Curling women’s title with an 8-4 win over Silvana Tirinzoni the Sunday’s final at the WFG Masters.

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SASKATOON — Rachel Homan captured a record-extending 14th Grand Slam of Curling women’s championship in the WFG Masters.

Homan and her Ottawa-based club claimed the trophy with an 8-4 victory over Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni during Sunday’s final at Merlis Belsher Place.

The team of Homan, third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes collected $38,000.

Both Homan and Wilkes gave birth during the off-season and the team has been on an incredible run this fall, winning four titles on tour already. Homan herself was on fire this week — leading all women’s skips with a 90 per cent shooting average — and fired a team-high 88 per cent in the championship game.

“It just feels so good,” Homan said. “We’ve put in so much work and trying to get back really quick after both babies on the team. It feels phenomenal to capture that after you’ve worked so hard to come back after having two kids on the team. It’s a lot of work and I’m really proud of my team.”

Miskew has been playing beside Homan since they were kids and said it’s amazing to share the journey.

“We just come into all of these events trying to win as many games as we can,” Miskew said. “There are so many amazing teams here and it’s been a great event. Rachel’s bounce back this season, just having a two-month-old, is unbelievable and amazing. I’m really grateful that I’ve been along on the ride for so many years with her. Fourteen Slams is pretty impressive.”

Tirinzoni secured the hammer to start, but Homan was able to wrestle control of the game early.

Homan made an amazing shot in the second end that brushed dangerously close by a guard and connected to sit three counters.

“We’ve been working really hard on our sweeping,” said Miskew, who moved from third to second last season when Fleury joined the team. “I just love having switched to being a sweeper. I love being part of that. She throws them so that we can sweep them. That’s the way that we have to do. I was happy that I was able to get it by the guard for her and she threw it great enough to make it.”

“After that shot I said, ‘Nice shot, Em.’ It was her shot that she made, not mine,” Homan added. “Phenomenal sweeping and it was just a phenomenal week for us. We were strong straight through and right up the lineup.”

That forced Team Tirinzoni to just a single and a miss from Pätz in the third end opened the door for Homan to score four points and take a firm 4-1 lead.

The teams traded singles in four and five.

Pätz pulled off an open hit for two in the sixth to close within one, however, it was early handshakes after Homan hit a double takeout to count three in the seventh.

“Unbelievable,” Homan said. “What a team effort to win that one and phenomenal shot-making across the board. Tirinzoni was putting rocks in great spots and coming back in the game after that four, it was tight, and then able to make that last one as a team shot is a great way to go out in 2023.”

With the way they’re playing, it’s no surprise they’re just as eager to get back on the ice for the next Grand Slam event — the Co-op Canadian Open, Jan. 16-21, in Red Deer, Alta. — as they are to rest and relax for the holidays.

“It’s a nice time to take a little break but we’ll be working hard and we’re excited to get back on the ice in January and get to Red Deer,” Miskew said. “Keep playing, keep building, keep learning and getting games together.”

Tirinzoni, Pätz, second Selina Witschonke and lead Carole Howald earned $30,000.

Later, Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte will take on Italy’s Team Joël Retornaz in the men’s final. Watch live at 4 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. local time on Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet+.

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Anil Mungal/GSOC retornaz_joel1280 Hat trick: Retornaz claims third straight Grand Slam men’s title at WFG Masters feed_column Sun, 17 Dec 2023 19:42:10 EST Sun, 17 Dec 2023 23:35:36 EST Jonathan Brazeau Joël Retornaz edged Ross Whyte 3-2 in the WFG Masters men’s final to win a fourth career Grand Slam title and third straight this season.

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SASKATOON — Joël Retornaz and his team from Italy captured their fourth Grand Slam of Curling championship and third consecutive of the season after successfully defending the WFG Masters men’s title.

Retornaz scored a single in the eighth end to edge Ross Whyte’s squad from Scotland 3-2 during Sunday’s final at Merlis Belsher Place.

It was just a little over a year ago when Retornaz, third Amos Mosaner, second Sebastiano Arman and lead Mattia Giovanella claimed their first-ever trophy in the series during this event and opened the season with back-to-back title wins at the HearingLife Tour Challenge in October and last month’s KIOTI National.

“Winning last year, the first time a Grand Slam, it was something huge for me and for my team, but now we’re four-time Grand Slam champions, three consecutive Slams we’ve won, it’s unbelievable,” Retornaz said. “It’s unbelievable, but I’m so proud of my team because we work really hard. We put a lot of effort into what we’re doing. I think we deserve to be here and we need to enjoy this moment now.”

Team Retornaz joined Team Kevin Martin (2006-07), Team Brendan Bottcher (2018-19) and Team Brad Jacobs (2019-20) in an exclusive group of clubs who have won three straight Grand Slam men’s titles in a single season.

“If you look at the names of other skips who have won three Slams in a row, you’re talking about the elite of world curling and the history of curling,” Retornaz said. “I think it’s very special for me. It’s me putting my name there, but I have to give a lot of credit to my team because they’re not named in that group but, of course, I couldn’t do it without my team.

“As I said, I’m super proud of them. We’re really doing a great job, teamwork is amazing including coach (Ryan Fry) and everybody. It’s really special to be in that group of people.” 

The world No. 1 Retornaz lost his first game of the tournament Tuesday to Winnipeg’s Team Reid Carruthers but won five straight heading into the final to open with the hammer.

Neither team blinked during the first three ends and it wasn’t until the fourth when Team Whyte fell into a wee bit of trouble, but their skip made a game-saving come-around draw against three Retornaz stones in the house. Retornaz was able to follow the path though and bumped Whyte’s rock to score a deuce and finally put points on the board.

Whyte held the hammer for the first time in the game during the fifth end. Retornaz got by the guard to hit and lie two and forced Whyte to tap for just a single.

That handed the last-rock advantage back to Retornaz for the sixth end, however, he hit and rolled too far on his last as Whyte stole one to tie it 2-2.

Whyte bailed out his team again in the seventh end with a thunderous triple takeout to clear the house and Retornaz blanked once more to retain the hammer for the final frame.

Retornaz needed to draw fully into the four-foot circle with the last rock of the game, and his shooter touched the button for good measure.

Whyte, third Robin Brydone, second Duncan McFadzean and lead Euan Kyle were playing in their first-ever Grand Slam final following a marathon Saturday. Whyte won three straight elimination games against Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin in a tiebreaker, Canada’s Team Brad Gushue in the quarterfinals and Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller in the semifinals to reach Championship Sunday.

“We knew we were facing a very good team,” Retornaz said. “Every team here in the Slams is a good team, but Whyte is showing on the ice he’s really close to winning a Slam.

“We played them in a semifinal this year already in a Slam. He made it to the final by beating lots of good teams. We knew we were facing a very strong team and winning with the last shot, in the last end, shows that both teams were even on the ice even though we always kept a small advantage. 

“A few bad shots in the sixth from me. We gave up a steal so they were able to tie the game, but I think we still kept control of the game and our goal was to be in the last end with the hammer, so that’s what we did.”

Although it’s now time for the holidays, Retornaz wants to keep rolling — or keep on truckin’ if you will — as the Grand Slam of Curling season resumes in the New Year with the Co-op Canadian Open, Jan. 16-21, at Servus Arena in Red Deer, Alta.

“It doesn’t end here. The year is ending now but our curling season is not ending,” Retornaz said. “Our curling careers are not ending either, so we really want to keep going. We’re going to for sure enjoy our families during Christmas and festivities, then hit the ice and be ready for the next event in January.”

Earlier, Rachel Homan captured a record-extending 14th Grand Slam women’s title. Homan and her Ottawa-based club doubled up on Team Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland 8-4 in the WFG Masters women’s final.

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