SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — Canada Cup winner Reid Carruthers of Winnipeg picked up where he left off with a 7-5 victory over American John Shuster during Draw 3 Wednesday at the Boost National.
It was a bit of a wake-up call in the first end with Shuster starting with the hammer and scoring three. Team Carruthers lead Colin Hodgson said taking that lump in the first was exactly what they needed to bounce back big time scoring four in the second.
“It was definitely very hard to get motivated for that game and mentally took more work than any game this entire year for sure,” he said. “It was kind of hard to keep the eyes on our own sheet for some reason but we’re really happy we were able to keep it together enough. We gave up three in the first end and knew immediately we needed to refocus and do the little things to score a four in the next end.”
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“It was definitely a slap in the face in the first end to give up a three,” Hodgson added. “We should have given up five probably but then Reid made a great double and roll.
“I think that was the best thing that could have happened to us was to give up a three in the first end so that we knew we really needed to refocus and start putting rocks in better position. We were a little lazy in the first end in our execution and finishing off the shots.”
Carruthers (1-0) continued to power up extending his lead in the third with a steal of one to make it 5-3.
Shuster (0-1) had to settle for a single in four when his last came up light. Carruthers blanked five and took one in six to maintain the two-point advantage.
Shuster looked to blank seven but hit on the nose to get stuck for a point. Carruthers grabbed shot rock with his first skip stone in eight and didn’t need to throw his last as Shuster came up short again.
Carruthers captured the Canada Cup men’s title Sunday to clinch a spot in next year’s Olympic Trials.
Meanwhile, Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher topped Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock 7-4. Bottcher rebounded from his opening night loss to Brad Jacobs to even his record at 1-1 while Laycock starts at 0-1.
In the women’s division, Scotland’s Eve Muirhead levelled her record trouncing Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque 8-3.
Muirhead broke a 1-1 tie with a three-ender in the third and stole two in the fourth to add some more separation on the scoreboard with a five-point gap.
Rocque took two in the fifth to cut into the deficit. Muirhead punched one on the board in six and stole a point in seven for handshakes.
Muirhead now holds a 1-1 record while Rocque opens at 0-1.
Binia Feltscher of Switzerland took down Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg 8-3. Feltscher (1-1) is the reigning world champ while Jones (0-1) just captured her third Canada Cup title Sunday.
Masters victor Allison Flaxey (1-0) of Caledon clipped Tracy Fleury (0-1) of Sudbury 6-5 in an all-Ontario match.
NOTES: The Boost National is the third event and second major of the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. … TV coverage begins Thursday at Noon ET on Sportsnet. … Round-robin action continues Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. ET. … All teams play four round-robin games with the top eight moving on to the playoffs. … The Boost National runs through to Sunday afternoon at the Essar Centre.
