That’s one way to introduce yourself to the Grand Slam of Curling scene.
Canada’s Serena Gray-Withers and her teammates Catherine Clifford and Zoe Cinnamon won their GSOC debut match 6-5 in a shootout against the defending world champions Team Xenia Schwaller from Switzerland at the P&H Masters in Medicine Hat, Alta.
A GSOC win is nothing new for Gray-Withers' newest team member Laura Walker, who plays second, as she’s been around the Slam circuit the longest.
During the match the whole team played great, but at the end of the day if the skip doesn’t make the final two shots you probably don’t have a chance. That wasn’t the case for Gray-Withers. She was phenomenal the whole game, really taking it to Schwaller and forcing her into high-pressure shots, while also making some of her own.
One of them was a draw in the third end against three. To even have a chance at that, though, Gray-Withers had to make a beautiful angled runback with her first, which she did. When it came to the final stone of the end, it would’ve been easy for her to feel the pressure and come up short, especially after throwing a big-weight hit, but she trusted her process and made it look easy.
The same thing could be said about the shootout. But Gray-Withers once again didn’t show any nerves by stepping up and essentially putting it on the pin. This left no room for error from Schwaller where she missed, giving Gray-Withers her first GSOC win.
A special moment in the career for one of the best up-and-coming teams in Canadian women’s curling.
Tuesday’s results (Full scores and standings)
Draw 1
Gim 8, Lloyd 2
Mouat 5, Koe 3
Kitazawa 6, Nihira 4
Waddell 6, Yamaguchi 5 (SO)
Draw 2
Sturmay 5, Homan 4 (SO)
Gray-Withers 6, X. Schwaller 5 (SO)
Dunstone 14, Hlushak 1
Fujisawa 8, Hasselborg 7
Draw 3
Reese-Hansen 8, Paetz 7
Kobayashi 4, Einarson 3
Y. Schwaller 6, Van Amsterdam 2
Park 7, Wrana 6 (SO)
Draw 4
Jacobs 6, Spiller 5 (SO)
Epping 9, Bottcher 4
Hoesli 7, Casper 2
Hardie 5, McDonald 2
Epping gets revenge
Even though you never hear curlers come right out and say the game means more when facing their former teammates, it’s understood.
That was the case for Canada’s Team John Epping, who defeated Jake and Tanner Horgan during Tuesday’s match against fellow countryman Brendan Bottcher. The Horgan brothers left Epping’s team in the off-season to join Bottcher along with Geoff Walker.
With or without the extra motivation, Epping is rolling right now and nobody seems able to slow him down. His Manitoba-based team is coming off an undefeated week at the Henderson Metal Fall Classic in Sault Ste Marie, Ont., in late October, and while there was talk about him stepping away after last season, Epping is playing some of the best curling of his career.
Take the shot in the second end, for example. Without hammer, Epping made a beautiful draw with his last to sit two. Bottcher tried to follow him down the same path, but couldn’t and gave up a steal of two.
The thing about Epping is he’s always going to play a super offensive game. Sometimes it may burn him, but when he’s playing like he is right now, not many can beat him.
Eighth end of mistakes
For the second straight Slam, Canada’s Team Taylor Reese-Hansen has defeated Switzerland’s Alina Paetz in the first match of the week. However, this time Reese-Hansen probably feels lucky to be leaving with a regulation win.
After the Victoria-based team made a great shot in the seventh to score three and take an 8-6 lead, they just about gave a deuce right back in the eighth to Paetz to force a shootout.
Paetz made the first big mistake of the end with her first shot, as she rolled out on a hit. This left just one lonely Team Paetz stone in the house partially buried for Reese-Hansen to chase and if made, would’ve ended the game. But Reese-Hansen handed the chance right back after missing the stone, and more importantly, leaving an open hit for two.
The mistakes kept coming, though, as Paetz once again rolled out while trying to hit and stick for two, handing Reese-Hansen the win.
Neither team was probably happy leaving after what had happened in the eighth end, regardless of the final result.
For Reese-Hansen’s team, though, they were gifted a distraction right away when they were shockingly greeted after the game by Gray-Withers and her teammates. The Alberta women team had a gift — they gave them sweaters that read The Hyphenated Girlies Club to match a set of their own.
Tough set of GSOC debuts for some Alberta boys
You never forget your first Grand Slam of Curling match, but for Canada’s teams Evan Van Amsterdam and Peter Hlushak, they might also remember each shot. Van Amsterdam faced Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller while Hlushak took on Canada’s Team Matt Dunstone, the top two ranked teams in the world right now on the men’s side.
For Team Van Amsterdam, they didn’t look out of place in a 6-2 loss even though Schwaller’s team controlled the entire game and made more shots. There was just a moment in each end where you could see the experience level of the Swiss team outmatch Van Amsterdam, along with a crucial miss that would leave them chasing the end as a result.
While it doesn’t get much easier for the Alberta-based team as they have to face USA’s Team Danny Casper and Dunstone in their next two matches, it will be interesting to see if they can quickly learn from their mistakes, because that should also clean up some of their misses.
Speaking of Dunstone, though, his team destroyed Hlushak’s rink 14-1 in just five ends. The reigning Brier champions did it without their new teammate Mark Nichols, who is missing the P&H Masters due to an upper-body injury. Colton Flasch, a member of Tyler Tardi’s team, is taking Nichols' place during the event.
Even though the score was rough for Team Hlushak — a trend you should expect to see all week — this event is all about learning as much as they can by playing against the best teams in the world. His Alberta-based team got into the event thanks to winning a U25 satellite spiel. Hlushak’s team is also the men’s curling team for the University of Alberta Golden Bears.
In 10 years, hopefully it will just be a memory Hlushak can laugh at.
The P&H Masters will be available on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ starting with Draw 6 at 12 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PCT. Sportsnet will air three draws per day Wednesday through Friday. Sportsnet+ and CBC will carry the Saturday quarterfinals, while CBC will air the semifinals on Saturday evening. Championship Sunday will be on Sportsnet.
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