CAMROSE, Alta. — There’s no rest for the world’s best in curling.
From the mixed doubles trials to the Continental Cup to now a Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tournament, Team Gushue is now entering its third consecutive week on the ice.
Fortunately for the St. John’s, N.L., crew they opened their title defence at the Meridian Canadian Open in the win column with a 9-4 victory over Team Chang-Min Kim of South Korea during Tuesday’s opening draw at Encana Arena.
“We didn’t play real strong,” Team Gushue second Brett Gallant said. “We made a couple timely shots and that was it. It wasn’t our best game but we were lucky to make the right ones at the right times. We got a few misses out of them.”
“We’ll take it because we know we’re going to have to play better the next game,” he added. “But it’s nice to get a win on the board and start moving towards the qualifying games.”
The Meridian Canadian Open features a triple knockout preliminary format where teams must win three games before they lose three in order to qualify for the weekend playoffs. Eight teams in both divisions advance and it’s a race to get through the A brackets at 3-0 as that also means extra rest for those who may be feeling a bit of a fatigue setting in from being on the road for a couple weeks.
“I think we’re happy we’re at a Slam where [with] the schedule you don’t have too many back-to-back games,” Gallant said. “We’ve been on the ice a lot the past two weeks but we’re getting a little bit more rested as we go on here. So just try to rest when we can and stay physically and mentally sharp.
“We’d love to qualify in as few games as possible so getting the first win is nice.”
Gushue didn’t get off to an ideal start as he was forced to a single in the first and fell behind when he misfired on his last in the second by clicking off of the shot rock and allowing Kim to draw to the button for a deuce.
The nine-time Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling champion grabbed the lead back in the third with an open hit for two points and stole to make it 4-2 as Kim faced a couple counters with his last in the fourth, clipped one but left the other untouched. Kim crashed into a guard with his last in five to concede another steal and make it a 5-2 advantage for Gushue.
After Kim took two in the sixth to close the gap back to one, the gloves were off after the seventh as Gushue faced one counter and delivered a runback to get his four spot as the crowd roared.
Team Gushue has reached the Meridian Canadian Open final in four consecutive seasons winning the title in 2014 and again last year.
Kim, who will represent the host nation at the upcoming Olympics, was a finalist at the BOOST National two months ago in his team’s Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling debut.
Elswhere in the opening draw, Peter de Cruz of Switzerland defeated Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud 6-3 in an Olympic-sized battle. Both will represent their countries at the Winter Games.
Meanwhile in the women’s division, another all-Olympic matchup saw Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg hammer EunJung Kim of South Korea 8-2.
Edmonton’s Laura Crocker downed Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland 8-4.
“It’s always nice to start an event off with a win especially against a team like Tirinzoni,” Crocker said. “They’re such a good team, to get a win like that out of the way feels good.”
Crocker now skips the squad while still throwing third rocks with Kelsey Rocque remaining at fourth stones.
“We just felt like we wanted to mix things up. We weren’t quite getting the results we wanted and figured at this point why not try something different,” Crocker explained. “Kelsey is such a great last-rock thrower that I think this just takes a bit of pressure off her to do what she does best.
“She’s also living in Grande Prairie now, I’m living in Edmonton, so I get to hold the broom for Jen [Gates] and Taylor [McDonald] all the time so I see how they’re throwing. My mind is always going, I’m thinking about it anyway. We put me in the house, I think about it for her and then she just gets to throw last.”
Kerri Einarson of East St. Paul, Man., clipped Calgary’s Chelsea Carey 6-4 in a repeat of September’s Tour Challenge Tier 2 women’s final. The two will face off again later this month in the one-game playoff for the wildcard spot at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Sixteen of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s team from around the world are competing in the fourth tournament — and third major — of the 2017-18 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season.
Action resumes with Draw 2 at 8 p.m. MT.
NOTES: Winners of the Meridian Canadian Open earn berths to the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup running April 24-29 at Calgary’s WinSport Arena. … Points are also up for grabs for the Bonus Cup, awarded to the overall season champions. … Television coverage begins Thursday at 2 p.m. ET on Sportsnet. Also watch online at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) or gsoc.yaretv.com (international).