If you looked at all the scores from the opening day at the HearingLife Canadian Open in Saskatoon, Sask., only two would jump off the page — Canadian Team Matt Dunstone’s 8-3 loss to USA’s Team John Shuster and fellow Canadian Brad Jacobs 5-4 shootout loss against fellow countryman Mike McEwen.
The reason?
Both Dunstone and Jacobs were the finalists at the Canadian Curling Trials less than a month ago in Halifax, N.S., with Jacobs winning the tournament to represent Canada at the Olympics.
There, they were playing their best curling of the season. Just a couple weeks removed from that emotional event, however, neither team looked the same during Day 1.
Tuesday’s results (Full scores and standings)
Draw 1
Ha 5, Wang 3
Fujisawa 7, Gim 3
Epping 8, Muskatewitz 7 (SO)
Mouat 9, Hoesli 5
Draw 2
Kitazawa 6, X. Schwaller 3
Tirinzoni 5, Yoshimura 4
Shuster 8, Dunstone 3
Y. Schwaller 7, Kleiter 3
Draw 3
Einarson 11, Kim 3
Kang 7, Hasselborg 3
McEwen 5, Jacobs 4 (SO)
Whyte 6, Waddell 4
Draw 4
Homan 8, Constantini 1
Tabata 7, Morrison 2
Gushue 6, Retornaz 4
Edin 9, Casper 3
Best match
Never count Canada’s Team Brad Gushue out.
He gave everyone, especially Italy's Team Joel Retornaz, a friendly reminder of that.
It seemed like it was going to be yet another tough start to a Slam event for Gushue who was down 3-0 after three ends and 4-1 after five against Retornaz. In the sixth end, however, he and his team found something to spark a comeback.
Gushue got a deuce in the sixth end, bringing him back within one. He carried that momentum into the seventh end where the team forced Retornaz to give up a steal to keep the hammer in the eighth end after not being able to generate a deuce of his own.
Tied 4-4 in the eighth, Gushue and his team once again played a near-perfect end, and when Gushue needed to come through with his best shot, he did.
He called and made a corner freeze touching the button that was completely buried, giving Retornaz no room for error. Retornaz couldn’t come through and Gushue earned a massive win.
Best shot
Some might say Germany’s Team Marc Muskatewitz made the flukiest shot they’ve ever seen, but he would say it was planned all along.
Down two in the eighth end, it looked all but over for Muskatewitz against Canada’s Team John Epping. With nothing open because of all the guards out front, Muskatewitz's only hope was to try an angled runback through a port into the four-foot taking out Epping’s stone while also needing to stick to score two.
Sounds easy, right?
Well, with the amount of luck Muskatewitz had on this shot, he might want to buy a lottery ticket.
He hit the angled runback, but as the rock approached the guard out front it just rubbed it, making everyone think the shot was dead. Instead, the rub was what the shot needed as it directed the rock straight back into the four-foot, hitting Epping’s stone to tie the game.
Despite losing in a shootout, Muskatewitz was probably thrilled to get the single point.
Best sweep
You would think Jacobs would give his front end of Ben Hebert and Brett Gallant an easy game in terms of sweeping after winning the Canadian Curling Trials to secure their Olympic berth.
Wrong.
The talented front end was put to work against McEwen, especially in the fifth end.
Jacobs needed to squeeze through a port in order to pick McEwen’s shot rock that was buried on the pin. As soon as Jacobs let go of the rock, Gallant’s broom hit the ice, trying to keep the rock straight for as long as possible before Hebert could sweep for curl.
Gallant and Hebert got the job done with an amazing sweep, setting them up to steal.
Biggest momentum swing
Two ends into the game Italy’s Team Stefania Constantini was tied 1-1 with Canada’s Team Rachel Homan, and considering Constantini handed Homan her only loss on the Slam tour earlier this season, it felt like it could happen again.
Until it didn’t.
Thanks to Homan, Constantini had a near-impossible chance to score while throwing her last stone in the third end. However, she was left with an easy draw to the four-foot to give up a steal of one or, at the worst, two, which would’ve kept the game tight.
Constantini, instead, slid through the rings with her draw, losing all of her confidence, and giving up a steal of three.
From there the flood gates opened for Homan as she cruised to an 8-1 victory.
Top player
Despite not playing in a Grand Slam of Curling event yet this season, USA’s Team John Shuster looked incredible during his first match against Dunstone.
After a great first end for Dunstone where they got a force against Shuster, it felt like the game would be close, but Shuster had other plans. From the second end onwards the skipper was dialed in, not giving anything to Dunstone. Including nailing a soft-weight hit-and-roll in the second with his first shot to set up a steal of two, taking a 3-0 lead.
Shuster’s game continued to get stronger, as in the fourth end he was facing a potential steal of three from Dunstone before making a nice in-off to grab the one point before the break.
His best shot of the game, however, came in the seventh end. Up 5-3 and already sitting one, Shuster wanted to go for the kill shot on his first stone — attempting to make a runback double-takeout using his own shot rock to get Dunstone’s second rock out of the rings.
Shuster, with all the confidence in the world, drilled it, thus setting up a massive three-point end to finish the game.
The HearingLife Canadian Open continues tomorrow on Sportsnet+ starting at 9:30 a.m. ET/ 6:30 a.m. PT with Draw 5.
Featured matches
Hasselborg vs. Yoshimura at 9:30 a.m. ET/ 6:30 a.m. PT
Jacobs vs. Epping at 1 p.m. ET/ 10 a.m. PT
Homan vs. Kitazawa at 5 p.m. ET/ 2 p.m. PT
Shuster vs. Gushue at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT
