Team Tirinzoni's Alina Paetz broke a lot of Manitoban hearts on Sunday.
All athletes know that feeling of being ‘in the zone,’ when whatever they do, it’s going to work. Whether it’s draining a fifth straight three-pointer, going five-for-five in a baseball game with two homers, making save after save in hockey, or having the confidence to make any shot in a curling game.
That’s where Paetz’s game was in the Players’ Championship final against Team Einarson, playing in Steinbach, Man., Kerri Einarson's home province
It started in the first end when Paetz made two great shots back-to-back, earning her team the opening-end deuce.
From that moment onward, Paetz felt like she could make anything. Including in the fourth end when Silvana Tirinzoni wasn’t so sure Paetz could make a double-runback to hit Einarson’s rock and score either two or three.
However, once Tirinzoni realized the zone Paetz was in, she approved the shot, which, yet again, Paetz made with confidence to score two and take a 5-2 lead.
In the second half, Einarson’s team fed off the home-province crowd, energizing a comeback that came down to the final shot in the eighth end for Einarson.
But Einarson wasn’t able to make the shot, giving Tirinzoni the 6-5 victory and wrapping up a dominant GSOC season for the Swiss powerhouse squad. Appearing in all five finals and winning two of them.
For Tirinzoni, though, this meant a little more.
It was her third straight Players’ Championship, and after the game, she revealed it might have been her last Slam ever.
“Possible it’s my last Slam, very possible,” Tirinzoni told reporter Devin Heroux in her post-game interview.
If it was indeed her last Slam, she goes out a champion.
Sunday’s results (Full scores and standings)
Draw 19 (Men’s final)
Whyte 6, Waddell 3
Draw 20 (Women’s final)
Tirinzoni 6, Einarson 5
Curling on home ice is special
Some curlers go their whole career without playing in front of their home crowd, or, for Canadians, their home province. So, when it happens, everyone wants to make the most out of it.
Einarson did that this week, despite the loss in the final.
During a Slam in 2014 in Selkirk, Man., Einarson was sitting in the stands dreaming of the day she would have an opportunity to play in a Slam final in her home province.
On Sunday, that dream came true.
“Oh my god, it feels absolutely amazing, look at the crowd today, and we truly appreciate everyone coming out and supporting us,” Einarson said in her pre-game interview with Heroux.
Every chance the crowd had to cheer Einarson on — not only in the final but the whole week — they came through to give Einarson that extra advantage no one else had.
It meant everything to Einarson.
“The crowds have been unreal all week here. Yeah, it’s been a dream,” Einarson told Heroux after her semifinal win. “Everyone's been cheering, giving me goosebumps.”
It truly is the one thing every curler should get to experience at least once in their career, since there is no traditional ‘home-ice advantage’ in curling.
Whyte wouldn’t be denied GSOC title this season
The third time is always the charm, right?
Well, it sure was for Scotland’s Ross Whyte and his teammates, who earned the commanding 6-3 victory over fellow countryman Kyle Waddell. This was Whyte’s third Slam final of the year, dropping the previous two.
As a result, Whyte and his teammates are leaving Steinbach a little richer — $55,000 richer, to be exact.
Even though Whyte had lost to Waddell in a shootout earlier in the week, this was a comfortable matchup for him. Coming into Sunday, Whyte had a record of 13-4, including 2-1 in Slam events, against Waddell.
Still, however, Whyte wasn’t giving away the gameplan.
“I can’t tell ya that,” Whyte said in a pre-game interview with Heroux.
Whyte didn’t have to tell Heroux what the plan was because it was obvious: dominate, that’s it.
Whyte and his team were laser-focused the whole match and proved to be too much for Waddell at critical points. Whyte wasn’t pushed to make any crazy shots, but that’s because he didn’t have to.
His team played so well, lead through mate, that by the time Waddell went to shoot, he was trying to limit the damage before Whyte would make him pay.
At 27 years old, Whyte has a chance to become the next best thing in curling, even with fellow Scottish rivals Bruce Mouat and Waddell pushing the ranks as well.
Nerves get to Waddell in first GSOC final as skip
Despite the loss to Whyte in the finals, Waddell has put the rest of the GSOC tour on notice for next year by starting the week 6-0.
Coming into the game, Waddell ranked third among skips at the Players’ Championship, shooting an outstanding 80 per cent.
When asked by Heroux if he had any nerves coming into the championship game for the first time as a skip, Waddell was honest.
“I’m always nervous, that’s a good thing, you’re excited. These are the events you want to win.”
Those nerves, however, proved costly for Waddell right away. In the first end with hammer, Waddell had an opportunity to settle into the game, needing to draw into the full four-foot to grab a single point. Waddell was heavy, though, and gave up a steal of one, a mistake he hadn't made once all week.
Then in the fourth end, Waddell was down 3-1 with a chance to earn himself a deuce and bring the game even heading into the break. All he had to do was make a thin double-takeout.
Instead, Whyte was the one who put a point on the board to take a 4-1 lead after Waddell wasn’t able to move the second stone far enough.
Even though nothing was working for Waddell and his team, they didn’t stop fighting. In the fifth end, his team pulled together to make a brilliant quiet-weight takeout for two points.
This loss will sting for sure, but with the nerves of playing his first GSOC final as a skip out of the way now, it will be interesting to see how Waddell responds in his second chance. Because we all know, with the way he and his team played this week, it’s coming at some point.
This was the final event for the 2025-26 Grand Slam of Curling season.
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