SHERWOOD PARK, Alta. — Pat Simmons and his Calgary crew will play for at least one more day at the Humpty’s Champions Cup.
Simmons swiped two points in the final end against Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock for a 6-4 victory Friday night and stays in the mix securing a spot in Saturday morning’s tiebreaker draw.
It was a bizarre finish as Simmons’s second skip stone in eight was initially pulled as sweeper Tom Sallows had touched it with his brush while in the house. However, Laycock made the classy call to place it back and needed to draw to the four-foot circle with his last for the winning single while facing two counters. Unfortunately for Laycock, he came up light and didn’t even make it into the paint.
“It was a crazy game,” Simmons said. “Not the way we wanted it to finish. It was a mental struggle. We had a tough time with our rocks and I have no explanation for some of the things that happened. Anyway, we hung tough and that’s all you can say.
“It’ll definitely be a long day (tomorrow) but it’s better than not playing.”
The game was also emotional as it could’ve been the end for Team Simmons with Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen both stepping back from competitive curling following the season finale event.
Laycock blanked the first and settled for a single in the second for a 1-0 lead. Simmons faced three counters with his last in the third and hit and stuck on the button to tie it.
Both teams kept it tight with Laycock taking two in four and Simmons matching with a pair in five. Laycock made a double hit with his last in six to land on the lid for a single and Simmons was forced one in seven to knot it up again leading into the decisive end.
Laycock (2-2) dropped into the tiebreaker and will face reigning world junior champion Bruce Mouat of Scotland.
Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen completed an undefeated run through round-robin play defeating David Murdoch of Scotland 6-3. McEwen (4-0) broke a 3-3 tie with a three-ender in the seventh. Murdoch (2-2) will be back for the tiebreakers taking on Simmons.
Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., doubled up on Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers 6-3. It was all Gushue in the game as the Rogers Grand Slam Cup champ and winner of three Pinty’s GSOC titles this season scored a deuce in the first and stole one in the second for a quick 3-0 lead.
Carruthers was forced to take a single in three and Gushue repeated his scoreline taking another two in four and swiping a point in five. Carruthers got a pair in six and called it a night early shaking hands. Both teams are through to the quarterfinals with 3-1 records.
Peter de Cruz of Switzerland cruised into the tiebreaker stage with a 7-2 win over Mick Lizmore. De Cruz improved to 2-2 and plays Niklas Edin of Sweden in the tiebreakers while Lizmore is heading home at 1-3.
In the women’s division tiebreaker, Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland edged Satsuki Fujisawa of Japan 7-6 to advance to the quarterfinals. Tirinzoni, the Tour Challenge Tier 1 winner, takes on Japan’s Ayumi Ogasawara.
GSOC Champions Cup: Scores | Standings | Playoffs | TV Schedule | Watch Online
NOTES: The Humpty’s Champions Cup is the seventh and final event of the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season and runs through to Sunday at the Sherwood Park Arena Sports Centre. … Teams had to win a high-profile tour event over the course of the season to qualify. … The event is the second of two new tournaments added to the schedule this year along with the Tour Challenge, which kicked off the season in September. … The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling returns for the 2016-17 season starting with the Masters, Oct. 25-30, in Okotoks, Alta.