TORONTO — It was an emotional moment for Satsuki Fujisawa’s team on Wednesday night in the Princess Auto Players’ Championship as they faced off against Jennifer Jones for possibly the last time.
The iconic Winnipeg skip is retiring from women’s curling after the event following a decorated career winning Olympic gold, two world championships, six Scotties Tournament of Hearts titles and 10 Grand Slam of Curling titles.
After Fujisawa picked up the 9-4 win, all four members of the Japanese club presented Jones with a gift bag as they shared lots of hugs, laughs and tears.
“She is our idol,” Team Fujisawa third Chinami Yoshida said. “When we came here, we talked about why we wanted to come to the last Grand Slam, we really wanted to see Jones.
“This is her last [event], so we are really glad we got to play against Team Jones.”
The game was also pivotal for Team Fujisawa, seeded last in the 12-team women’s division, as they grabbed their first win of the week to improve to a 1-2 record and remain in contention.
“We came here lucky No. 12, bottom of the rankings, so that’s why we really just want to enjoy the curling here,” Yoshida said. “Losing is pretty tough for us, but we always have the confidence to win here.”
Fujisawa started the match with the hammer and narrowly avoided two guards to make a tap and convert for a deuce in the first end.
Jones (1-2) was able to level things in the second with a great angle raise takeout for her deuce.
After singles back and forth, Fujisawa didn’t hammer her last in the fifth hard enough as her blank attempt failed to remove Jones’s shot rock to give up a steal.
Fujisawa recovered with a draw for two in the sixth and stole one in the seventh to hold a 6-4 advantage without the hammer coming home.
Jones misfired her last shot in the eighth end as Fujisawa tacked three more points on the board.
Yoshida was also appreciative of the Japanese community in Toronto, and those from outside of Toronto, who have come out to support them this week.
“We always are so surprised tons of Japanese fans come to watch our games,” Yoshida said with a smile. “Also not only people living in Toronto, some Japanese fans came to Toronto just to watch our games, so we have to win for them.”
Elsewhere in Draw 7, Team Silvana Tirinzoni scored three in the sixth and stole one in the seventh to defeat Team Xenia Schwaller 7-3 in an all-Swiss showdown.
Tirinzoni move up to a 3-0 record while Schwaller, who is making her Grand Slam series debut, dropped to 1-2.
In men’s play, Team Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., earned an 8-5 victory over Winnipeg’s Team Reid Carruthers, skipped by Brad Jacobs.
Gushue, who earned silver at the world championship in Switzerland this past Sunday, rebounded from an 8-5 loss earlier in the day to Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat to improve to a 2-1 record.
“We’re good. Energy is probably a little bit lower than we would like in an event like this, but we’re doing the best we can when we’re out there,” Team Gushue third Mark Nichols said. “We’re giving ourselves a chance. Brad’s playing really well, so try to leave him with some shots for multiple points. We feel good, obviously not great, but we knew what we were signing up for when we got here.”
Jacobs (1-2) had the hot hand to start and pulled off an amazing shot to score a deuce in the first that set the tone for the latest chapter of the “Battle of the Brads.”
“He’s made a ton of those shots against us over the years, and he’s throwing the rock really well, so sometimes you can’t take it all away,” Nichols said. “In the first end today was a prime example. We guarded and he got a thin slash for two and he nailed it.
“Obviously, you don’t want him attempting them all of the time. He’s going to make more than he’s going to miss, but he’s one of the best players to play the game and he’s making a lot of those shots. You try to put as much pressure on the rest of the team as you can and try not to leave him too many of those.”
Gushue bounced back big time with a solid second end capped with a tap for three points to pull ahead.
Tied 4-4 after five with singles going steady, Gushue grabbed the lead for good in six after Jacobs attempted a double, but his shooter sailed straight through the port untouched. That allowed Gushue an easy open draw to drain another three-pointer.
Jacobs went for another tricky runback in the seventh and couldn’t quite pull it off as planned with Gushue’s rock jamming to hold Team Carruthers to just a single.
That handed Gushue the hammer for the final end, up 7-5, and the 14-time Grand Slam champion added another point without needing to throw his last as Jacobs was unable to sit two for a potential steal to force an extra.
“It feels good. We needed to at least get one win out of our two-game day,” Nichols said. “I think getting to 2-1 now and it’s one game a day for the next couple of days, we can try to get a little more rest. We need at least one more win.”
Italy’s Team Joël Retornaz picked up their first win of the week with a 6-3 decision against Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller. Both clubs are at 1-2.
UP NEXT
The Princess Auto Players’ Championship resumes Thursday with Draw 8 at 8 a.m. ET.
Broadcast coverage begins with Draw 9 at 11:30 a.m. ET on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
NOTES
The Princess Auto Players’ Championship is the fifth and final Grand Slam of Curling event of the 2023-24 season featuring the top 12 men’s teams and top 12 women’s teams from around the world. … Both divisions are split into two pools of six for round-robin play. The best six teams advance to the playoffs with the top two teams receiving byes to the semifinals. If necessary, a tiebreaker round will be played Saturday morning to determine the final playoff berths. … The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday with the finals on tap Sunday.
