Eight Ends: Gushue runs through the 6ix to take Players’ title

Watch as Brad Gushue makes this shot in the finals to complete a career grand slam.

TORONTO — It was a week to remember for Brad Gushue and his St. John’s, N.L., squad.

The team of Gushue, third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant, and lead Geoff Walker entered the week with two clear goals in mind: 1) Win the Rogers Grand Slam Cup as the overall season champions, and 2) Win the elusive Players’ Championship and complete a career Grand Slam by having won all four majors.

Easier said than done, of course.

To clarify, the Grand Slam majors within the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling series are the original four events: Masters, National, Canadian Open and Players’ Championship.

Gushue and Nichols won their first together at the National in 2010 – and Nichols captured a second National title in 2013 during his run with Jeff Stoughton – but its been the past two years with Gallant and Walker up front that has seen them making their run at the history books in a historic venue no less: Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre (aka Maple Leaf Gardens).

Only Kevin Martin, Glenn Howard, Wayne Middaugh, and Jeff Stoughton have skipped their teams to career Grand Slams and Gushue looked to join the exclusive list.

Team Gushue claimed both the Masters and Canadian Open titles last season and took National title this past November. They also ran the table last month at the non-major Elite 10. Only the Players’ Championship had eluded Gushue with two runner-up finishes over his career.

The Rogers Grand Slam Cup victory came first as Gushue’s quarterfinal victory over Niklas Edin of Sweden clinched the crown and the $75,000 bonus. That gave them some peace of mind knowing it was already in the bank, but it was the Players’ Championship that they really wanted to lock up.

Gushue had even offered his opponent in the final, Brad Jacobs, the cash but the skip from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., wanted to win the title just as badly as his team needed a victory in order to qualify for the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup.

Gushue prevailed in the end of a tight battle, scoring a deuce in the sixth end to take a 5-3 lead and breathing a sigh of relief when Jacobs came up short on his draw attempt for two in the seventh.

The final end with Gushue holding the hammer and leading 5-4 was rather anticlimactic but still pretty special as the team could now say mission accomplished completing the career Grand Slam and winning his 6ixth Pinty’s GSOC title in the 6ix (yes, from this point forward six will be written as 6ix) and earning over $100,000 in total prize money.

1st End: The winning streak continues

Team Gushue continued to tear it up running through the 6ix with no woes by posting a perfect record to win their second consecutive Pinty’s GSOC title following last month’s Elite 10 victory.

That extends their winning streak to 14 consecutive games with an overall 34-5 win-loss record through six events. When you can still count your number of losses on one hand, you know you’re doing something right.

Sure, they’ve had some lucky breaks — had Jacobs hit the paint with his draw in seven it would have been tied coming home — but you also have to be good to be lucky and their consistency at the Slams over not only this season but the past two years has seen them put on a Golden State Warriors level of performance.

2nd End: Muirhead goes 3-for-3 in Toronto

It wouldn’t be the Players’ Championship in Toronto without Eve Muirhead walking away with the trophy.

Muirhead captured her third career Players’ title Sunday defeating Jennifer Jones 9-6 in the women’s final. The Stirling, Scotland, skip has won all three times Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre has hosted the event.

Muirhead earned her first career Grand Slam title at the Players’ Championship in 2013 and captured the Canadian Open and Players’ titles last season.

Most impressive this time around is Muirhead was missing third Anna Sloan, who is out for the rest of the season due to an ACL injury. Cathy Overton-Clapham, who won three Players’ titles with Jones, previously played the “super spare” role helping Val Sweeting claim the Masters in 2014 and was a solid sub once again.

3rd End: Jones clinches Olympic Trials spot

The silver lining to Jones’s runner-up finish is her team has clinched a spot in the 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials.

When Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion Chelsea Carey finished just off of the podium at the world championships last month, a spot at the Trials opened up for this season’s CTRS points leader. Jones mathematically secured that berth following her win over Kerri Einarson’s team during the semifinals.

“It’s great. It makes next season easier,” Jones said. “You can kind of plan your schedule accordingly so it’s very exciting.”

The Winnipeg-based team of Jones, third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jill Officer, and lead Dawn McEwen won the previous Trials and took home the gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Almost immediately following the Winter Games, the team made the four-year commitment to stick together and attempt another run to defend the medal.

Having locked up a spot in the Trials already puts them one major step closer to that goal.

4th End: Speaking of Einarson

It was a shocking turnaround in the quarterfinals with Einarson completing the comeback to upset Ottawa’s Rachel Homan 7-6 during Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Homan was in complete control early scoring two sets of three-enders to lead 6-2 after three ends, but Einarson and her team from East St. Paul, Man., didn’t give up and for good reason. Homan struggled with her draw shot in the second half and Einarson was able to ride the steal train to victory swiping points in the final three ends.

Team Homan locked up the women’s Rogers Grand Slam Cup after their second round-robin win and were looking to become the first team to sweep the four majors in a single season.

It was fitting Team Einarson’s walkout song was Drake’s “Started From the Bottom” because that perfectly sums up the their year. They captured the Tour Challenge Tier 2 title, their first win as a team, at the beginning of the season to earn a move up to the elite field for the Masters. Einarson was a semifinalist at that event and even defeated Tour Challenge Tier 1 winner Silvana Tirinzoni in the quarters.

They continued to have a breakout season winning the Manitoba Scotties, after runner-up finishes the previous two years, and were well-deserving of a spot among the best at the Players’ Championship.

5th End: Remembering Vic Peters

Team Einarson were playing in the event with heavy hearts.

Second Liz Fyfe’s father Vic Peters passed away last month after battling cancer. Peters won the Brier in 1992 and was one of the original 18 skips in the GSOC series. He meant a lot to those involved in the game and the players paid tribute to him by wearing black wristbands during the Players’ Championship.

6ixth End: Players’ Championship to return to Toronto

The Pinty’s GSOC series announced their 2016-17 schedule earlier in the year and the Players’ Championship will be back again at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre.

Considering how great the past three Players’ Championship events have gone at the venue, we already can’t wait.

7th end: Edin makes ridiculous runback for shot-of-the-year candidate

Nothing in that headline should come as a surprise, but that shouldn’t stop you from checking out this amazing shot by Edin during the quarterfinals against Gushue.

Edin was in the danger zone facing four counters during the 6ixth end, but the angle raise was there and the two-time world champ pulled off the quad.

You know you’ve made a great shot when even your opponent gives you props.

8th End: Thomas breaks out

Calgary’s Charley Thomas entered the final day of round-robin play Friday with a 0-3 record and on the verge of elimination. However, they don’t call it “moving day” for nothing.

Thomas scored three in the seventh to upset Jacobs 5-2 and earn his first Pinty’s GSOC win and then topped Carruthers 8-4, with a four-ender in eight, to clinch a spot in the tiebreaker and play for another day.

The team’s run ended there as they fell to Edin 5-4, however, it was a stunning performance for the rink and capped a breakout season on tour.

Extra End: Humpty’s Champions Cup next on the schedule

There’s just one stop left on the coast-to-coast 2015-16 Pinty’s GSOC season. The Humpty’s Champions Cup runs April 26 to May 1 at the Sherwood Park Arena Sports Centre in Sherwood Park, Alta.

Two-time Scotties winner Heather Nedohin has been drumming up interest in the event with some shenanigans with cardboard cut-outs of the players.

Tickets are available, visit thegrandslamofcurling.com/tickets for details.

Double Extra End: Murdoch tops Epping in the 10th

This blog goes to 10. A bizarre situation occurred during the Players’ Championship round-robin match Thursday between Scotland’s David Murdoch and hometown hero John Epping.

Murdoch held the hammer in the extra end, but without shot rock prior to his last, and a quarry of rocks sitting in the house that prevented him from getting closer to the pin. Rather than risk the steal, Murdoch opted to blow it up and start over again.

“We weren’t left many options,” Murdoch explained. “We could have maybe just stuck it because we were in a lot of trouble but we wanted to make sure that at least we got everything out of there and maybe got an extra extra.”

The 2014 Olympic silver medallist added with a laugh, “We didn’t have worlds this year so maybe that’s how we get 10 ends.”

The rare double extra end went smoother for Murdoch as he eased his final stone with an open draw for the win.

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