Eight Ends: Dominoes continue to fall in Canadian men's curling scene

And you thought the off-season curling team shuffle was dramatic. That's nothing compared to what's transpired in the Canadian men's scene over the past few weeks.

Let's recap: Kevin Koe split with second Jacques Gauthier three weeks ago and played the PointsBet Invitational and HearingLife Tour Challenge events short-handed. Skip Aaron Sluchinski left his team this past Tuesday to join Koe at second. If that wasn't enough, along came Thursday's news that Brad Gushue had parted ways with second E.J. Harnden.

All teams have reasons to make changes, whether performance-based or an amicable breakup — yes, even those ranked No. 2 in the world and coming off a runner-up result in a Grand Slam of Curling tournament — but mere weeks into the season is certainly not the ideal time. Sure, the off-season would be preferred, but if things aren't working out for both sides, it's best to make a clean break sooner rather than later.

It happens in other sports, and for the small overlap of curling enthusiasts and F1 fans (there are dozens of us), look at all the in-season moves Red Bull has made over the years between its main team and younger sibling squad. This isn't the NHL, where players have guaranteed contracts, and even those can be bought out or waived under certain circumstances, as curling can descend into a bit of a free-for-all.

Expect to hear an announcement soon as Gushue's next event is this weekend's Henderson Metal Fall Classic in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and business picks up quickly with the Pan Continental Curling Championships (Oct. 27 to Nov. 2) and Co-op Canadian Open (Nov. 5-10) tournaments on the horizon.

FIRST END: We've already explored some options for Team Gushue, and why they would/wouldn't be a good fit, but the other side of the coin is where do Gauthier and Harnden land? It'll be just as tough, if not tougher, for them to find new teams at this point in the season, but both are solid players who would be great assets to have.

Gauthier skipped B.C. at the Brier, before joining Team Koe, and the 25-year-old from Winnipeg has a bright future ahead of him in the sport.

Harnden has a resume that's nearly unmatched with an Olympic gold medal, three Brier titles and nine Grand Slam of Curling championships. The 41-year-old from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., is also a beast when it comes to sweeping.

SECOND END: Looking at the big picture, it's kind of crazy that the only top Canadian men's team that hasn't made any lineup changes since the start of the Olympic quadrennial is Team Matt Dunstone. The lone addition the Winnipeg club has made since forming is bringing in coach Caleb Flaxey, formerly with Team Gushue, this season.

Koe and Gushue have now made changes. Brad Jacobs joined Brendan Bottcher's former teammates this past off-season after leaving Reid Carruthers. Let's not forget Mike McEwen just joined his Saskatoon-based teammates last season.

THIRD END: Although not a player change, Switzerland's Team Silvana Tirinzoni looked a little different this weekend during the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard at the High Park Club. Tirinzoni switched the front-end order with Selina Witschonke throwing lead and Carole Howald at second.

The switch makes sense when you think about it as Witschonke had always thrown last rocks before joining Team Tirinzoni last season— either as a skip herself or for Raphaela Keiser — and that fine-touch rock placement skillset would be better suited at lead.

"We were discussing that for a while now and just thought this was the tournament to try it out," Tirinzoni said. "Just curious how it feels like and then we’re going to make a final decision after that. Just a good tournament to try things out."

Team Tirinzoni reached back-to-back finals to start the season — finishing runner-up in the Shorty Jenkins Classic and winning the Women's Masters Basel — but missed the playoffs in the HearingLife Tour Challenge.

"The teams are really playing us tough, I have to say, so we really have to bring our ‘A’ game usually," said Tirinzoni, who won the Players' Championship to wrap up last season. "I didn’t feel like at the Slam we played that bad but not to qualify, our opponents were just better. I think we’re on a good path, but we have to bring it up a little bit. We’re not quite there yet, but that’s OK. It’s still early."

FOURTH END: Niklas Edin was handling triple duty during the HearingLife Tour Challenge as he not only skipped his Swedish squad, but he also coached Team Kayla MacMillan and Team Sayaka Yoshimura over on the cooler Tier 2 side.

Did I say cooler? I meant colder. Much, much colder. How many layers did Edin wear?

"Many," he said while coaching Team MacMillan during the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard. "I think I had seven layers up top, three on my legs and like double mitts and double socks. I pretty much put everything on that I could and then still got cold. It was a really cold arena. For next time, I’ll bring something that can heat me up instead."

Teams typically play one game per day at the Grand Slams, allowing someone like Edin the opportunity to handle multiple roles. Edin likes watching and analyzing curling anyway, so if he can help out another team, that's a bonus.

"It was a lot but it was still very doable. I obviously put our own performance and team first, so when I felt I had the time and energy then I was in the arena coaching," he said. "It worked out pretty well. I thought we played pretty well ourselves too. We had a couple of very tight games against the two teams that made the final, [Bruce] Mouat and Gushue, and probably maybe should have won both of them. We made a couple of key errors in both of those games that turned out to be losses and we missed playoffs, but I think we played well enough to maybe have been one of those teams in the final instead. Just got to move on.

"The other teams I was coaching, they played really well as well. One made the final and the other team made it to quarters, straight to quarters, and then lost in a spectacular way. Overall, all three teams performed pretty well and the results could have been a little bit better but that’s how it goes sometimes."

FIFTH END: Edin ended up playing Gushue twice during the HearingLife Tour Challenge with their first encounter featuring one of the most bizarre incidents in Grand Slam history.

Condensation had built up on the ceiling and dripped onto the sheet during the match. Grand Slam of Curling director of competition Pierre Charette stood on the sheet with a pan to catch the drips until the ice crew could MacGyver a contraption.

"We had some laughs and jokes about it. I think in this case, where we won the game it wasn’t as fun for them when it happened," Edin said. "We just had to do the best we could, and I think both teams handled it really well in the end. Pierre and the other people working on it, there wasn’t really anything they could do except try to solve it there and then, and then for the next draw it was gone. It all worked out OK, actually."

Edin won 7-5 but lost the rematch 3-2 in an extra end during the C-qualifiers to miss the playoffs.

"It’s always fun to play those kinds of games," Edin said. "It’s always kind of a 50/50 game, tough game on paper, but if you play super well you can win them but if you don’t play your best you’re probably not going to win them. ... Probably the lowest-scoring game we’ve played in many, many years. It was just one of those, we had our chances but made a couple of mistakes, which we usually do early in the season, so we’re just going to try to eliminate those for the next one."

SIXTH END: While Tirinzoni and Edin had disappointing results at the HearingLife Tour Challenge, the event was a boost for Sweden's Isabella Wranå, whose team qualified for the playoffs after a bit of a slow start to the season.

"We know we have it in us, but sometimes curling is hard, and sometimes it’s easier," said Wranå, who lost to eventual champion Team Kerri Einarson in the quarterfinals. "That was a big goal for the first Slam to qualify and get some good things rolling."

Team Wranå missed the playoffs at the Oslo Cup to start the season and was swept in four games during a best-of-seven series against Team Anna Hasselborg for the right to represent Sweden at the upcoming European Championships. Wranå made the playoffs at the Women's Masters Basel event but ran into Hasselborg in the quarterfinals and lost.

"We’re starting to get on a roll now and it’s really fun out there," Wranå said. "It was nice to qualify at the last Slam as well and get something going."

Oddly enough, Wranå and Hasselborg met again in the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard quarterfinals only this time the tables were turned. Trailing by three, Wranå scored two in the sixth then stole back-to-back single points to win 5-4 and advance to the semis.

SEVENTH END: Picture this: You're a lead, arguably one of the greatest of all time and even have a signature shot named after you. You're playing against a team entirely of leads. Sounds like a fever dream.

That was the scenario facing Lisa Weagle, lead for Team Laurie St-Georges, during the triple knockout stage Thursday at the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard. Team St-Georges took on the one-off team featuring skip Kerry Galusha, the leader of the leads, along with Raunora Westcott, plus Jen and Amanda Gates. Westcott threw last rocks, in case you were wondering.

"We were all laughing in the locker room before their first game because they said, 'Lisa, we don’t know what to do? We all want to play lead,'" Weagle said. "I definitely know that feeling, but I think that having a team of leads out there, they were all so supportive of each other. I played with Raunora and I played against Kerry for years, so it was kind of fun to play against them."

Although Team St-Georges built up a 6-1 lead, the game came right down to the wire after Team Galusha took two points in the sixth and stole two in the seventh. St-Georges had to make an angle raise while facing a pair of Galusha rocks to secure the 7-5 victory.

"She was tapping one of my rocks that had actually picked when it was coming into the house," Weagle said. "So when we tapped it, it was a bit heavy but whatever was under the rock was still under it and it somehow tapped it perfectly to us being shot and winning the game. A little closer at the finish than we probably would have wanted."

Weagle, a two-time Olympian and winner of 10 Grand Slam of Curling titles, stepped back from women's curling in 2022. She joined the Montreal-based group of St-Georges, third Jamie Sinclair and second Emily Riley this season after receiving a call asking if she was interested in playing lead again.

"I was kind of waiting for that to happen, I think," Weagle said. "I’ve been focusing on mixed doubles for the last couple of years. The opportunity to play in women’s again was very complementary to the mixed doubles that I was playing and it’s just a team of really nice people, good to have some fun out on the ice and hopefully try to get back to another Scotties."

EIGHTH END: Weagle plays mixed doubles with Toronto's John Epping, who is skipping a new men's team this season featuring brothers Jacob and Tanner Horgan plus Ian McMillan.

Epping said it all started during a mixed doubles event when he overheard Jacob Horgan mention he was moving in with his brother in Toronto.

"It kind of piqued my interest," Epping said. "I said, 'So I heard you talking earlier about you might be moving here, would you guys be interested in meeting for a coffee or for breakfast?' They took me up on that, we had a good chat and as you know, the rest is history."

The team is aiming to represent Northern Ontario at the Brier as both Horgan brothers are from Sudbury and McMillan, who lives in Winnipeg, was born in Dryden. Having three-quarters of the team in the Toronto area makes things convenient though.

"We’re able to work and train together in Toronto actually at the Granite Club," said Epping, who has won three Grand Slams as a skip. "We’re very lucky to be together and be able to curl, which, as we’re seeing, I think is such an important factor in curling."

Epping isn't thinking too much about their results just yet as they're trying to gel together with the Brier and possibly an Olympic pre-trials berth in mind.

"For me, it’s been more trying to fit in and try to be a good leader for them," Epping said. "They’ve got to get used to me and I’ve got to get used to them. We’re just trying to take some time. That’s why we’ve played a lot early and a bunch in September.

"For us, of course, we want get to the Brier. I want to get back to the Brier, they want to get to the Brier. That’s a big goal. If we can sneak a pre-trials spot and have an opportunity, that would be fantastic. Getting into the pre-trials, that will speak for itself and just having some good results. But to us, it would be great to get back to the Brier."

Hopefully, Epping will have his Northern Ontario moose call ready.