News Masters

TRURO, N.S. — It’s day two of the Canadian Beef Masters and the first full day of round-robin action at Rath Eastlink Community Centre.

While some teams got a head start competing in Tuesday’s opener, everyone else will hit the ice at some point Wednesday. Broadcast coverage begins Thursday, so in the meantime follow along with live scoring at thegrandslamofcurling.com/scores or come on down to Rath Eastlink Community Centre and experience the excitement live.

Here is what you need to know for today’s schedule:

Draw 2: Team Hasselborg vs. Team Scheidegger, 8 a.m. AT

Sweden’s Team Hasselborg captured their first Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title last month at the Princess Auto Elite 10. The reigning Olympic gold medallists went undefeated with a 6-0 record and now look to keep the winning streak running. Hasselborg goes up against reigning Alberta Scotties champs Team Scheidegger of Lethbridge.

Also on tap:

– Team Roth (Chaska, U.S.) vs. Team Carey (Edmonton)
– Team Edin (Karlstad, Sweden) vs. Team Paterson (Glasgow, Scotland)
– Team Mouat (Edinburgh, Scotland) vs. Team Walstad (Oppdal, Norway)
– Team Muirhead (Stirling, Scotland) vs. Team Robertson (Winnipeg)

Draw 3: Team Gunnlaugson vs. Team Carruthers, 11:30 a.m. AT

It’s a battle of former teammates with Jason Gunnlaugson (Morris, Man.) clashing with Reid Carruthers (Winnipeg). Gunnlaugson previously played with Carruthers back in the day from 2005-08 before branching out and now skips his own squad. That’s not the only “frenemy” connection as Team Gunnlaugson features second Denni Neufeld, formerly with Team McEwen, while Team Carruthers has the man himself, Mike McEwen, throwing fourth stones. It’ll be a tough matchup that may get a little awkward.

The third round-robin draw also sees the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling debut of the all-new Team Einarson from Gimli, Man. Kerri Einarson joined forces with former skips Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Briane Meilleur and has led to a strong start with four title wins on tour. We’ll see if that success can translate to the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling level as Einarson opens her round-robin schedule against her former East St. Paul, Man., teammates — Selena Kaatz, Liz Fyfe and Kristin MacCuish — who stuck together and added skip Tracy Fleury of Sudbury, Ont.

Also on tap:

– Team Epping (Toronto) vs. Team Schwaller (Bern, Switzerland)
– Team Koe (Calgary) vs. Team Murphy (Halifax)
– Team Walker (Edmonton) vs. Team Sinclair (Chaska, U.S.)

Draw 4: Team Muirhead vs. Team Roth, 3:30 p.m. AT

It’s a matchup of Olympic proportions between Scotland’s Team Muirhead and Team Roth of the U.S. While skip Nina Roth has retained the same lineup from the Pyeongchang Winter Games, Muirhead has added two new players with third Jennifer Dodds and alternate Vicky Wright coming over from Team Fleming. Dodds replaced longtime third Anna Sloan, who is taking a break from competitive curling. Skip Eve Muirhead also happens to be returning from off-season hip surgery.

Also on tap:

– Team Mouat (Edinburgh, Scotland) vs. Team Howard (Penetanguishene, Ont.)
– Team Jacobs (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) vs. Team Paterson (Glasgow, Scotland)
– Team Fujisawa (Kitami, Japan) vs. Team Scheidegger (Lethbridge, Alta.)

Draw 5: Team Gushue vs. Team Dunstone, 7:30 p.m. AT

Team Gushue open their title defence at the Canadian Beef Masters a little later than most, however, they also arrived straight from the China Open and are also dealing with a round-the-world time zone change. The St. John’s, N.L., crew goes up against the all-new Team Dunstone from Regina. Matt Dunstone has returned to his skip roots adding third Braeden Moskowy, second Catlin Schneider and lead Dustin Kidby, featuring a mix of youth and experience.

Meanwhile, reigning women’s champs Team Jennifer Jones also made the round-the-world trek from Chongqing, China, and play Winnipeg rivals Team Robertson in a rematch of the Manitoba Scotties final.

Also on tap:

– Team Gunnlaugson (Morris, Man.) vs. Team Shuster (Duluth, U.S.)
– Team Homan (Ottawa) vs. Team Tirinzoni (Aarau, Switzerland)
– Team Einarson (Gimli, Man.) vs. Team K. Jones (Halifax)