The eighth end now has the feel and pressure of an extra end at the AMJ Masters in London, Ont.
The Grand Slam of Curling has introduced a new rule this season where extra ends don't exist, and instead teams that are tied play a shootout draw to the button. As expected, the new dynamic has set up some interesting strategies that were on full display for the first time during Wednesday's matches at the AMJ Masters.
Wednesday’s results
Draw 5 at 8 a.m. ET/ 5 a.m. PT
Kim 6, Ha 0
Edin 7, Muskatewitz 4
Whyte 9, Kleiter 2
Fujisawa 5, Wang 4
Draw 6 at 11:30 a.m. ET/ 8:30 a.m. PT
Einarson 7, Constantini 5
McEwen 7, Dropkin 1
Gushue 6, Xu 5
Tirinzoni 7, Tabata 3
Draw 7 at 3:30 p.m. ET/ 12:30 p.m. PT
Gim 7, Black 2
Dunstone 6, Ramsfjell 3
Retornaz 8, Y. Schwaller 6
Homan 6, Wrana 5 (SO)
Draw 8 at 7:30 p.m. ET/ 4:30 p.m. PT
X. Schwaller 7, Hasselborg 2
Hoesli 8, Mouat 7 (SO)
Epping 6, Jacobs 5
Skrlik 8, Yoshimura 5
Link to Grand Slam of Curling AMJ Masters scores and standings: https://www.thegrandslamofcurling.com/events/masters-12/draw-schedule-results
Top teams through two days
It's not a shocker that atop both the men's and women's AMJ Masters leaderboards are most of the household curling names like Silvana Tirinzoni, Rachel Homan, Ross Whyte and Matt Dunstone. What is a shocker though — at least on the men's side — is that both Bruce Mouat and Brad Jacobs dropped their Wednesday evening matches.
Best match
Canada’s Team Rachel Homan usually doesn't find herself in a close enough game to be considered one of the best matches of the day, that's just how dominant she's been over the past two seasons. But, on Wednesday vs. Sweden’s Team Isabella Wrana, Homan found herself in a tight battle.
In the seventh end, a brand new Homan strategy came into play. With the game tied and Homan with the hammer and facing a force of one, she elected to hit-and-roll out, keeping the hammer while giving up the lead. This way, she knew she'd have the last stone with a chance for two in the eighth to win.
Unfortunately for Homan, but fortunately for curling fans, the eighth end didn't work in her favour. She only scored one and gave us the first-ever Grand Slam of Curling shootout. Homan made no mistake drawing right to the pin and earning the victory to move to 2-0 on the week.
Best shot
Is it too early for a shot of the year candidate?
Already down five in the fourth end and facing another possible steal against Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte with two rocks fully in the four-foot and buried perfectly, Canada’s Team Ryland Kleiter had no choice but to throw a curling Hail Mary.
Kleiter delivered a true ‘spinner' — a shot with little to no hope of being made — in light of the line and weight adjustment needing to be made to reach the button.
But somehow, someway, Kleiter and his front end correctly judged the weight and line of the rock right to the button and got the point to stay in the game.
Biggest momentum swing
Talk about a rollercoaster of events.
After jumping out to a commanding 5-0 lead after three ends, Canada's Team Kerri Einarson looked like they would be on cruise control for the rest of the game. However, a total collapse caused the Canadian squad to hand Italy's Team Stefania Constantini five points right back over the next three ends.
With all the momentum on Constantini's side, Einarson's team somehow managed to get some control back in the seventh, as they grabbed a point that would set them up to steal in the eighth end and secure the wild victory.
Best sweep
Sweeping matters, a lot.
During the fourth end of the match between Canada's Team Mike McEwen and USA's Team Korey Dropkin, McEwen's mate Colton Flasch attempted a hit-and-roll on a half-buried rock with his final shot. Flasch had to play it extremely tight to both of Dropkin's guards if he wanted to land it successfully, and so he looked to his sweepers for support.
As the shot sailed to the wing with a lot of curl, Dan and Kevin Marsh used all their strength to keep the rock from wrecking on the guard, while at the same time, kept enough of a roll to bury it safely behind their own rock.
Top player
After starting the tournament with a blowout loss to Scotland's Team Ross Whyte, the defending AMJ Masters Champions, on Tuesday, John Epping needed to play pretty perfect when he faced Canada's Team Brad Jacobs, the defending Brier champions on Wednesday.
And he delivered. End after end, the Toronto native impressed.
His performance was highlighted by a shot in the seventh end, where he could've opted to throw the rock away and take one, but instead, risked losing his own shot rock to make the double takeout and get two. That extra point proved to be the difference in the 6-5 win after Jacobs only secured one in the eighth end.
Draw 9 is available Thursday on Sportsnet+ at 8 a.m. ET/ 5 a.m. PT. Draw 10 and all following draws are available on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
Featured matches
Ha vs. Black at 8 a.m. ET/ 5 a.m. PT
Y. Schwaller vs. Gushue at 11:30 a.m. ET/ 8:30 a.m. PT
Homan vs. Yoshimura at 3:30 p.m. ET/ 12:30 p.m. PT
Jacobs vs. Whyte at 7:30 p.m. ET/ 4:30 p.m. PT
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