World No. 1 Bruce Mouat may still have a shot at the Players’ Championship playoffs, but it didn’t happen without a little help.
Mouat came into his last round robin match against World No. 2 Yannick Schwaller—who had already punched his ticket to the playoffs—with eight points, tied with countrymen Ross Whyte for the last playoff spot. After the Scottish teams, came Canada’s Team Matt Dunstone and USA’s Team John Shuster, trailing by one and two points respectively.
Mouat, Shuster, Whyte, and Dunstone were all still looking for a way to play into the weekend games ahead of Draw 14 on Friday.
Mouat and Schwaller would play first, with their result dictating the pressure Whyte, Dunstone and Shuster would be under when they played for a spot in the playoffs in the day’s final draw.
So, to say the contest between Mouat and Schwaller was critical would be an understatement.
Schwaller held a 4-3 lead heading into the seventh without hammer, leading to a difference in strategy for both teams. Mouat tried everything in his power to blank the end and carry the hammer into the eighth, while Schwaller wanted to avoid giving up a blank at any cost.
Schwaller won the battle and Mouat unhappily got two points to take a 5-4 lead, giving Schwaller the hammer in the eighth.
Even though Schwaller had already qualified for the playoffs, the game was still important because with just one point his team would earn a quarterfinal bye. All Schwaller needed was a shootout and his team would secure at least one point.
However, as the eighth end unravelled, Mouat’s mate Grant Hardie made a costly miss, leaving Schwaller sitting two in the rings with only Mouat’s guard on the playing surface.
Schwaller easily could’ve drawn into the house to sit three, and would’ve basically guaranteed at least two points in the end to give him the full three points for a regular win, while Mouat would have gotten zero.
Instead, Schwaller elected to peel Mouat’s guard, which allowed for Mouat to clear the rings with his next shot. Team Schwaller then tied the match with their final rock and moved the game to a shootout, where they grabbed the victory, but not without surrendering one critical point to Mouat that would go on to lift his Scottish rival to the tiebreaker.
Had Schwaller sat his shot in the eighth end, Shuster’s regulation win against Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin would’ve eliminated Mouat completely, instead, Shuster and Mouat will now play a tiebreaker.
Friday’s results (Full scores and standings)
Draw 12
Xu 8, Edin 7
Waddell 7, Whyte 6 (SO)
Einarson 6, Kitazawa 3
Fujisawa 5, T. Peterson 4 (SO)
Draw 13
Tirinzoni 7, Yoshimura 4
Homan 9, Hasselborg 5
Shuster 7, Casper 3
Dunstone 9, Retornaz 6
Draw 14
Tabata 6, Gim 4
Wrana 8, X. Schwaller 4
Y. Schwaller 6, Mouat 5 (SO)
Jacobs 7, McEwen 6
Draw 15
Whyte 8, Dunstone 6
Shuster 7, Edin 6
Homan 8, T. Peterson 2
Einarson 5, Tirinzoni 4
Playoffs are set
Scotland’s Team Kyle Waddell and Schwaller have finished as the first and second seeds on the men’s side and have secured a bye right through to the semifinals.
China’s Team Xiaoming Xu will take on Italy’s Team Joel Retornaz while Whyte will face either Shuster or Mouat in the quarterfinals to meet either Schwaller or Waddell in the semis.
To no surprise, Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni controls the top seed on the women’s side and is joined by Canada’s Team Rachel Homan, who will have byes to the semifinals as well.
They will sit and watch Korea’s Team Eun-ji Gim face USA’s Team Tabitha Peterson. Team Kerri Einarson's opponent will be determined after Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa and Sweden’s Team Isabella Wrana battle it out in a tiebreaker.
Huge bounce back day for Homan
This was the Homan team we were all waiting for.
When Friday’s action began, Homan started the day at 1-2 with three points and sat 11th out of 12th place in the standings.
By the end of the day she had a 3-2 record and clinched a quarterfinal bye for finishing as the second seed.
In two must-win in regulation games, Homan didn’t miss.
It started with her game against Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg. Homan trailed 5-3 heading into the sixth end and knew she needed to generate at least two points, if not more.
Hasselborg jammed her double attempt with her final shot, leaving Homan sitting two and an open hit for three. Homan converted to take the lead for the first time.
From there, Homan stole the rest of the game and earned her first clutch victory of the day.
She then had to wait until the last draw in round robin play to determine her own fate, and this time she faced Peterson.
Homan went to work, hanging a four-spot in the first end and followed it up with a steal in the second end to lead 5-0.
The game was put on cruise control from there as Homan steam rolled to a 8-2 win.
If Homan and her team play like they did on Friday in the semifinals on Saturday, good luck to whoever falls in their path.
E.J. Harnden’s Slam journey comes to a close
Over the Christmas break E.J. Harnden announced he'd be retiring at the end of the season, meaning the Players’ Championship would be his last Slam event.
While the week didn’t start great for Dunstone and his team, they caught momentum playing against Team Canada’s Brad Jacobs and earned a solid shootout win that then propelled them to a 9-6 victory on Friday over Retornaz.
Like many teams, Dunstone also had to play twice on Friday, but his final game against Whyte carried more weight. The match was win-and-your-in, but also, and more importantly, a win would continue Harnden’s final GSOC event.
After five ends the game was tied at four, but a costly mistake on Dunstone’s last stone in the sixth gave Whyte the opportunity to score four points.
Whyte would settle for three, but with a 7-4 lead and only two ends left, the game looked all but over. Dunstone didn’t go down without a fight, but in the end lost 8-6, thus closing Harnden’s Slam career.
Harnden walks away a 10-time GSOC champion.
Crown Royal Players’ Championship playoff coverage starts tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. ET/ 8:30 a.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
Featured matches
Tiebreakers at 11:30 a.m. ET/ 8:30 a.m. PT
Men’s and women’s quarterfinals at 3:30 p.m. ET/ 12:30 p.m. PT
Men’s and women’s semifinals at 7:30 p.m. ET/ 4:30 p.m. PT
