The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season is set to conclude this week with the crown jewel event of the series, the Players’ Championship.
A couple final farewells and potential milestones highlight the must-see tournament and the chase for the Rogers Grand Slam Cup is far from over with 12 of the top men’s and 12 of the top women’s teams set to clash with major points up for grabs.
Here are the main storylines ahead of the opening draw Tuesday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto.
Can McEwen cap incredible year completing career Grand Slam?
Mike McEwen has won eight tournaments on tour already this season and could finish it off in style by checking off the one Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title left on his to-do list. The Winnipeg-based rink won the National in November joining their Masters championship from 2010 and his pair of Canadian Open titles from 2011.
McEwen said after capturing the inaugural Syncrude Elite 10 title in March, “We really want to win the Players’ badly. That’s the best-of-the-best Slam there is. That would be amazing going out on top winning that in Toronto.”
They enter the Players’ Championship as the top seed and they could very well end up hoisting another trophy when the week is over.
Chase for the Rogers Grand Slam Cup comes to a close
The Rogers Grand Slam Cup is awarded to the men’s and women’s teams who score the most points at the majors. The Players’ Championship offers more points than the other events but even without that bonus, the race to win the title is tight on both the men’s and women’s sides.
McEwen is tied atop of the men’s standings at 26 points with Brad Gushue, who has also had quite the season on the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling circuit winning the Masters in November and the Canadian Open in December. If the Gushue-McEwen-Gushue-McEwen pattern of Pinty’s Grand Slam event winners holds up, Gushue could wind up back in the winner’s circle in more ways than one. Brad Jacobs isn’t far behind either in third place with 21 points and could also double up if he captures his first career Pinty’s Grand Slam title.
The women’s side sees Masters champion Val Sweeting in the lead with 19 points. Rachel Homan is just three points behind in second and anything could happen with their teams set to face off in same round-robin pool.
Farewell to Stoughton and Nedohin
Canadian champions Jeff Stoughton and Heather Nedohin announced earlier this year they are going to step back from competitive curling following the Players’ Championship. Never say never, but this could be their last appearances in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling series.
Stoughton, a three-time Brier winner, has completed a career Grand Slam and looks to mimic Kevin Martin’s run from a year ago when the “Ol’ Bear” capped his career winning the Players’ title. Team Stoughton squeezed into the tournament as the 12th seed but they could be the upset favourite in their pool.
Nedohin, a two-time Scotties champion, looks to go out on top winning her first Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title although just getting out of the round-robin stage could be difficult because …
Women’s world championship redux in Pool A
Pool A of the women’s division looks like part two of the world championship with the winner (Alina Paetz), runner-up (Jennifer Jones), bronze medallist (Anna Sidorova) and fourth-place finisher (Eve Muirhead) all grouped together along with 2014 world champ Binia Feltscher and Nedohin.
It’ll be interesting to see if Paetz can maintain the momentum from the worlds or if five-time Players’ winner Jones can finally solve the Swiss rink. Muirhead is another favourite to win as she claimed the Canadian Open title in December and took home the Players’ title the last time Toronto hosted the tournament in 2013.
Could Edin win his first career Grand Slam title?
Niklas Edin has been on fire the past few weeks and captured his second career men’s world championship Sunday. No European-based team has won a men’s Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title yet, but Team Edin is on such an incredible run right now that they could roll their way to become the first.
Old faces, new places
The season isn’t over yet but that hasn’t stopped teams from looking towards next year. It’ll be the final tournament for Team Howard with its current lineup as second Jon Mead and lead Craig Savill have been left off the roster for next season. In the fall Glenn Howard’s team will have his son Scott joining at lead, Wayne Middaugh making a comeback at third and Richard Hart moving over to second.
Some of the lineup changes have already taken effect with Mat Camm, formerly of Team Kean, joining John Epping’s Toronto rink for the Players’ Championship.
This event also sees Alison Kreviazuk make her return as a spare at second for Margaretha Sigfridsson’s team. Kreviazuk won back-to-back Scotties titles in 2013 and 2014 with Team Homan and faces her former rink in the opening draw.