The stars will always be stars.
With everyone getting back into the swing of things at the first Grand Slam of Curling event of the year, it’s no surprise it took a few days for some teams to get rolling. Thursday showed the first true glimmer of excellence that fans will come to expect all season.
Just take a look at the defending AMJ Masters champions, Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte, and how dominant they were on Thursday.
Thursday’s results (Full scores and standings)
Draw 9
Wang 7, Tabata 6 (SO)
Retornaz 8, Xu 3
Ramsfjell 5, Dropkin 3
Black 7, Ha 6 (SO)
Draw 10
Wrana 7, Skrlik 5
Y. Schwaller 5, Gushue 4
Mouat 7, Muskatewitz 6 (SO)
Constantini 7, X. Schwaller 2
Draw 11
Tirinzoni 8, Fujisawa 3
Homan 7, Yoshimura 3
Edin 6, Hoesli 4
Hasselborg 7, Einarson 3
Draw 12
Epping 6, Kleiter 3
Whyte 6, Jacobs 1
Dunstone 7, McEwen 3
Kim 4, Gim 3
Playoff picture taking shape
The playoff picture is still wide open at the AMJ Masters as they head into the crossover games. However, Friday is now poised to have loads of action and drama with win-and-you're-in situations across the board.
Canada's Team Matt Dunstone, Italy's Team Joel Retornaz and Whyte are undefeated on the men's side, while Canada's Team Rachel Homan and Switzerland's Team Silvana Tirinzoni have yet to lose on the women's side.
Best match
It feels like every time Dunstone faces Canada’s Team Mike McEwen, it’s a must-watch. Thursday was no different.
Regardless of the final score, the game delivered. Points were hard to come by with each team scoring only one deuce through the first seven ends while having a lot of rocks in play.
McEwen had Dunstone right where he wanted him, as he forced him to take one in the seventh, giving McEwen back the hammer as he trailed by one in the eighth.
But in the eighth, both teams were fooled by the ice. Dunstone recovered, though, and ended up in a good place for a steal while McEwen needed to attempt a tricky ‘spinner’ to even have a chance with his last shot. Dunstone ended up with the 7-3 win.
Best shot
Despite losing to world No. 1 Bruce Mouat in a shootout, Germany’s Team Marc Muskatewitz had him on the ropes, especially after his shot in the sixth end.
With Mouat sitting shot rock in the eight-foot and having six (SIX!) guards out front overlapping each other, it looked like Muskatewitz would have to attempt a long tap back on one of his own guards or a near-impossible draw to the four-foot.
Muskatewitz’s team saw an opportunity though — an ultra skinny staggered port for the hit to score three.
With nothing to lose, they went for it. Just barely getting by guards — I don’t even know if a nickel would’ve fit between the rocks — everything was executed just like they drew it up, creating an incredible shot.
Biggest momentum swing
Through the first three days, Brad Gushue’s play has not been what he wanted. The St. John's legend dropped his opening match on Tuesday against Retornaz and followed it up with a less-than-convincing win on Wednesday vs. China’s Team Xiao Ming Xu. Gushue's struggles continued on Thursday.
Up until the final rock in the seventh end vs. Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller, Gushue and his team had been playing well. Trailing just 4-3, Gushue was set up to get his deuce, needing just a draw to the pin — something the Canadian skip usually can do in his sleep — to take a one-point advantage into the eighth end.
This time however, he was heavy and had to settle for one. From there, the game swung in Schwaller’s favour with more misses from Gushue’s team in the eighth as they went on to lose 5-4.
Gushue announced earlier this month that he will retire at season's end.
Best sweep
If you’re not sweating, are you really sweeping?
Kaho Onodera, a member of Japan’s Team Sayako Yoshimura, was sweeping with everything she had on Thursday.
During the third end vs. Homan, Yoshimura attempted a draw to come around Homan’s shot rock in the top of the eight-foot with her first shot. But immediately after she let go of the rock, Onodera realized it was go time.
With her head down the whole time, Onodera dragged the rock far enough for it to be half-buried, something that didn’t look possible when Yoshimura let go of the stone.
Top player
The name is Whyte, Ross Whyte.
In a rematch of last year’s AMJ Masters final between Whyte and Canada’s Team Brad Jacobs — where Whyte and his team won their first Grand Slam event — Whyte dominated again.
After Jacobs made an uncharacteristic mistake in the first end to fall behind 3-0, Whyte never looked back.
Even in the fifth end, when Jacobs looked like he had forced Whyte to just a single point, Whyte somehow managed to split off his own, as he rolled his rock to the outside and got enough of a kick to roll it back in and get the deuce.
He followed it up the next end with two long runbacks, and left Jacobs with nothing.
AMJ Masters coverage continues on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ on Friday.
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