News National

Conception Bay South, N.L. — Edmonton’s Team Brendan Bottcher kicked off their quest at the Boost National doubling up on Team Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., 6-3 Wednesday afternoon at CBS Arena.

Bottcher, who won the final three Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling events last season, curled an outstanding 98 per cent in the match.

“It’s always good to start out a spiel with a win,” Bottcher said. “It means you’re not behind the eight-ball right off the bat.”

Jacobs, winner of last month’s KIOTI Tractor Tour Challenge, opened with the hammer and led 3-2 after five ends, but Bottcher rolled away from there scoring a deuce in six followed by a steal of two in the seventh.

The 2014 Olympic gold medallist Jacobs didn’t get an opportunity to throw his final stone as Bottcher ran him out of rocks with a double takeout on his last.

“We didn’t start off with the hammer, gave up an early deuce, tricky conditions but we battled through,” Bottcher said. “I think the guys played really well, especially in the back half, which showed.”

Elsewhere, Scotland’s Team Ross Paterson opened their title defence with a 7-2 decision over Team Scott McDonald (0-2) of Kingston, Ont.

In women’s play, Masters champions Team Tracy Fleury of East St. Paul, Man., clipped Calgary’s Team Chelsea Carey 5-4.

“It’s a good start to the week,” Fleury said. “We’re trying to get a handle of the ice. It’s a little bit tricky with some frost out there but I think we managed it well.”

There was no trouble for Team Fleury on their last rock connecting with an open hit to start with a 1-0 record while Carey begins at 0-1.

“I was a little nervous because we weren’t quite sure how much it was going to curl out there,” Fleury said. “It was a really good sweep by Kristin (MacCuish) and we made it.”

Reigning world champions Team Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland improved to a 2-0 record with a 7-2 win against Team Kelsey Rocque (0-1).

Eve Muirhead and her Scottish squad won their first game defeating Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa 8-4. Team Fujisawa (1-1) are playing as a trio this week as lead Yurika Yoshida is ill and did not join them on the trip.

Boost National action continues at 4:30 p.m. local time. Broadcast coverage begins Thursday at 11 a.m. ET on Sportsnet and streaming online via Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).

Round-robin play runs through to Friday with the top eight teams overall in both divisions qualifying for the weekend playoffs.

NOTES: The Boost National is the third event and second major of the 2019-20 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season featuring 15 of the top men’s teams and 15 of the top women’s teams from around the world. … A $300,000 combined purse is on the line, split equally between both divisions, with the winners receiving $35,000 each plus berths to the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup in Olds, Alta. … Teams also earn points towards the Pinty’s Cup awarded to the season champions following the conclusion of the Players’ Championship in April.