From amazing shots to moments that have made us laugh, we’ve combed through the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling archives to bring you the best clips of the 2015-16 season.
It’s a long summer break ahead so hopefully this collection of videos will help tide you over until the new season. In fact, these amazing shots and memories are making us anxious for October already.
Tour Challenge: Jones draws for nerve-racking two and win
It was a roller coaster for the fans as it looked like Jennifer Jones had the draw and the crowd started to roar, then the stone kept going as the cheers started to turn to whoas, but in the end it was on the money and everyone went back to cheering again.
Jones’s expression after the shot says it all.
Tour Challenge: Koe’s run double in 8th
Kevin Koe was right on the mark to kick off the year through the Tour Challenge en route to winning the title. Check out this game-saving double takeout he made in the eighth end during the final against Brad Gushue (also be sure to check out lead Ben Hebert running through the house to try and get out of the way).
Tour Challenge: Homan misses shot to lose tournament
The women’s final was dubbed the “Fog Bowl” and Rachel Homan had to make her last against two counters (we’d say she was looking at two but due to the fog that’s probably not the case). Silvana Tirinzoni picked up the steal and her first career Pinty’s GSOC title.
Masters: Carruthers makes perfect shot for win
Yup, this is the in-off that Reid Carruthers is still talking about. Thomas Ulsrud was up by two points entering the eighth end, but watch as Carruthers makes no mistake with his last rock coming home with an in-off to take out two and score three for the win.
Masters: Gushue makes triumphant return after fall
It was a scary sight during the Masters men’s quarterfinals when Brad Gushue lost his footing on the ice and fell face first onto the sheet. The 2006 Olympic gold medallist was patched up at a nearby hospital and somehow made it back to the arena in time to finish the game against Steve Laycock, making an unbelievable return like something out of WWE.
Also watch as Team Sweeting were up to their usual shenanigans having some fun at Gushue’s expense with his cut out.
Masters: McEwen saves an end to maintain lead
Nov. 1 was a good day for Mike McEwen. The Winnipeg skip avenged a round-robin loss to Koe by winning their semifinal showdown 5-4 in a big part thanks to this 1-2 punch in the seventh end.
McEwen led by two without the hammer and made a couple of clutch skip shots to get his team out of a late jam with a triple followed by a double to avoid giving up a multiple score.
McEwen followed that up later in the day by defeating Jim Cotter in the final to capture the Masters title.
National: Rocque’s nifty hits, Parts I & II
Welcome to the show, Kelsey Rocque.
The rookie skip was playing in just her second career Pinty’s GSOC event at the National and competed in a primetime matchup against the best on tour, Homan. Don’t let the 7-1 final score fool you as Rocque kept her team in it early with a pair of incredible shots.
First up, Rocque avoided a wall of guards to make an angle raise to get to the button and score her single.
Following that, Rocque just misses a guard by the narrowest of margins to make a triple takeout in the fourth end to “only” give up two points.
National: Team Homan kick rock off early
There was a bit of controversy in the seventh end of the National women’s final when Team Homan kicked off a rock early that Tracy Fleury wished to measure. The rules state that Fleury, who had already scored one, could have taken another point as the non-offending team that would have given her a 5-3 advantage. Fleury declined though and led 4-3 heading into the final frame.
Homan scored two in the eighth end to win the National title 5-4.
National: Gushue weathers the storm to beat Carruthers
Here are the highlights of the men’s final as Gushue came out on top against Carruthers to win the title.
Canadian Open: Martin draws it up, then Gushue delivers
It’s a good thing legendary curler turned Sportsnet commentator Kevin Martin was on hand to diagram the perfect play Gushue needed to make during his A-qualifier match against David Murdoch at the Canadian Open.
As they say, great minds think alike. Gushue’s shot was on point as rocks spun off into all directions and he scored a deuce.
Canadian Open: Koe lucks out to tie match
It looked like Koe’s angle raise had missed the mark and he was going to give up a steal to trail 3-0 to Brad Jacobs during the Canadian Open B-qualifier match.
However, fortune favoured Koe as he caught a lucky break and scored a deuce to knot it up 2-2 instead.
Canadian Open: Epping’s epic final rock
It was the shot of 2015 almost right at the buzzer. Epping snuck in this beauty during the Canadian Open semifinals that we declared the shot of the year.
Epping made an amazing angle raise with his last shot of the final end to tap two, scoring a deuce and lifting his team to a 6-5 victory over Koe to book his spot in the title match against Gushue.
Canadian Open: The Homan train keeps rolling
Homan won her record third consecutive women’s Grand Slam title at the Canadian Open. Here are the final two shots of the game as Homan sits two after her first skip stone and Jones hits her own to bring out handshakes.
Canadian Open: Epping turns two twice in same match
Epping was simply sensational during the Canadian Open men’s final throwing a perfect game thanks to amazing angle raises like these to earn the title.
Elite 10: Edin wipes out, still makes his shot
This is a curling match, not some splish-splash show. Watch as Niklas Edin goes for a slip and slide down the ice. He didn’t totally mess up the shot either with an explosion of rocks in the house.
Elite 10: Laycock gets the hang of match play
Steve Laycock went 0-4 and out early during the inaugural Elite 10 a year ago. This season he faired far better making it to the semifinals with shots like these against McEwen in the quarters.
Elite 10: Double the shootouts in semifinals
All games during the inaugural Elite 10 last year finished within regulation. This year both of the semifinal matches required extra ends, which under this format meant a draw-to-the-button shootout. Gushue edged Laycock by the narrowest of margins: half an inch.
First though check out this amazing in-off Gushue pulled off.
Elite 10: Gushue wins title in thrilling shootout
Since both semifinal matches went into the SO, it’s fitting so too did the final. Gushue had more legroom to work with this time around but still grabbed a piece of the button to secure the victory.
Players’ Championship: Rocque with great back-to-back shots to score 2
Rocque makes the double, impressive. Sweeper Taylor McDonald drags the shooter so that it’s completely buried behind their own guard, most impressive. This set up a “skip’s deuce” as Rocque gets her second shot to take two points.
Players’ Championship: Murdoch sends game into double OT
Solid strategy: blank the ninth to retain the hammer for the 10th end. Except these are supposed to be only eight end games. Watch as Murdoch gets out of a jam to force the double OT scenario against Epping.
Murdoch prevailed in the second extra end.
Players’ Championship: Thomas nails the triple
Charley Thomas had to hit this one perfect against Jacobs to avoid giving up a steal and pulled it off to score.
Players’ Championship: Einarson steals 2 to shock Homan
A shocking turn of events in the Players’ Championship quarterfinals. Homan led 6-2 after three ends and Einarson slowly chipped away at the lead trailing by one without hammer coming home. Einarson continued to apply the pressure and made Homan throw a tough shot in the eighth that came up short and ended her bid to sweep the majors.
Players’ Championship: Edin’s astonishing angle raise quad
Edin has been known to throw some jaw-dropping runbacks and this one against Gushue is no different as he moves four counters to score.
Players’ Championship: Muirhead, Jones put on a clinch in women’s final
Future curling stars should have been taking notes during the Players’ Championship women’s final. First up, watch Muirhead make the high-pressure draw facing four that set the tone for the game.
Jones followed that up with this gutsy call to get three points.
Players’ Championship: Gushue makes last shot to complete career Grand Slam
History was made as Gushue became just the fifth skip to complete a career Grand Slam (win all four majors) joining Kevin Martin, Glenn Howard, Wayne Middaugh, and Jeff Stoughton. Gushue knew it was golden right out of his hands as he won the Players’ Championship defeating Jacobs.
Champions Cup: Eriksson tosses water bottle, knocks numbers off the board
Now for something completely different. Oskar Eriksson of Team Edin messed up one of his shots late in a round-robin game against Gushue. He tossed his water bottle in frustration and it accidentally hit the scoreboard to cause the numbers to come crashing down.
Perhaps that eased the tension enough for his skip Edin to make this great shot to score two and snap Gushue’s winning streak.
Champions Cup: Edin hits guard, scores anyway
Sticking with Edin, watch this lucky single during the quarterfinals against McEwen. His shot clips a guard, but rather than giving up a huge steal, the stone spins perfectly to grab a piece of the button and a point.
Champions Cup: Epping angle raises, you know the drill
If the clips above haven’t already convinced you, Epping is pretty good at this angle raise maneuver. Here he is doing it against Gushue once more to score two during the Champions Cup semifinals.
Champions Cup: Simmons joins Team Bottcher
Whose side is he on?! You couldn’t have made this more of an epic reveal as Pat Simmons discusses his plans for next season and the camera zooms out to reveal … Brendan Bottcher! Oh my gosh! Again, it was like late-1990s pro wrestling.
Champions Cup: Jones with perfect shot to score 3 against Homan
It’s good to be red rocks on this play for Jones against Homan in the women’s final. Watch as the hits go red-red-red-yellow and stick around to count three, which was pretty much the “three count” for the match.
Champions Cup: Carruthers & Epping head to rare double extra end
The longest Pinty’s GSOC season ever went even longer. Watch as Carruthers hits and rolls out with his last in the extra end and a measurement on the remaining rocks (both out) required a second extra.
Carruthers needed to make an even tougher shot with his last in double OT against three and it almost looked heavy (as third Braeden Moskowy drops to his knees in defeat) but hit the brakes just in it for the win and his first Pinty’s GSOC title as a skip.
That wraps up the season and our end of the year roundups, so to quote Ferris Bueller: “You’re still here? It’s over. Go home. Go.”
