SELKIRK, Man. — Olympic gold medallist Jennifer Jones from Winnipeg was stunned in the opening draw of the Masters Grand Slam of Curling tournament, falling 6-1 in seven ends to Allison Flaxey, from Listowel, Ont.
Jones, who tops the World Curling Tour’s order of merit list, fell behind 5-0 after 15th-ranked Flaxey scored one to open the game and then stole singles in four consecutive ends. Jones settled for a point in the sixth end but Flaxey, the reigning Ontario Scotties champion, replied with one of her own in the seventh and the two rinks shook hands.
Jones’ rink received a loud ovation from the home province crowd during the opening ceremonies and were playing less than 24 hours after winning the Canad Inns Women’s Classic tournament in Portage la Prairie, Man.
Elsewhere, Winnipeg’s Kristy McDonald scored two in the extra end to prevail 8-6 against Eve Muirhead of Scotland. Muirhead trailed 6-3 after six ends but knotted it up with a deuce in the seventh and a steal of one in the eighth.
Sherry Middaugh grabbed a triple in the final end to lift her Coldwater, Ont., rink to a 9-6 victory over Switzerland’s Alina Paetz.
In the men’s division, Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton punched in his final rock to nail a takeout and score two in the extra end to defeat Brad Gushue of St. John’s 5-3.
“They missed one guard so we were able to have a fairly open house so that was the key miss on their side so then we just made some peels and that was it,” Stoughton said. “If you happen to missed a guard then it opens everything up and made my job a lot easier that’s for sure.”
Stoughton led 3-2 after six ends but Gushue blanked the seventh to retain the hammer for the eighth. Gushue had a chance to score two and win the game with a quarry of rocks in the house but the 2006 Olympic gold medallist wasn’t able to capitalize and was held to just one point.
“We knew if I missed my last one, which I just missed, he would have a chance for a deuce,” Stoughton said. “We were fortunate that it didn’t curl enough for him.”
Switzerland’s Sven Michel shut out Scotland’s David Murdoch 4-0 in seven ends.
The Masters Grand Slam of Curling continues Wednesday with Draw 2 action starting at 10 a.m. ET / 9 a.m. CT.