News Tour Challenge

CRANBROOK, B.C. — It was just like old times again for Craig Savill during Tuesday night’s opening draw of the Tour Challenge Tier 1. 

The 12-time Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling champion from Ottawa made his return to the series after stepping back from the game last season as he battled with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. With his cancer in remission, Savill has come back full-time joining Charley Thomas’s squad in Edmonton at lead.

While it wasn’t the result on the ice he was looking for as Team Thomas fell 7-6 to Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers, Savill said it was great to be back on the ice. 

“It felt like same old, same old for me out there,” Savill said. “It felt like I sort of never missed a beat so it was fun to be out there and see my buddies and compete again.”

It was the first game for Savill playing alongside Thomas, third Nathan Connolly and second Brandon Klassen with opportunities to build from the loss. 

“They’re easy guys to get along with,” Savill said. “We spent about four hours on the drive up here from Calgary and got to chat a little bit but we’ve got some work to do to gel as a team so this is just one step.” 

The teams were evenly matched as Carruthers scored three in the second to grab a 3-1 lead until Thomas matched with a trey of his own in the third to pull back ahead by one. Thomas stole one in four to build a two-point lead and Carruthers knotted it up taking two in the fifth. After Thomas was held to a single in six, Carruthers made a runback and rolled out to blank the seventh and retain the hammer for the final frame where he just needed an open hit to get the winning deuce.

Elsewhere, John Morris of Vernon, B.C., doubled up on former teammate Kevin Koe of Calgary 8-4. Morris stole the opening two ends to lead 3-0 until the defending champion Koe clawed back with a deuce in three and a steal of one in four to make it all square at the break. It was all Morris in the second half as he scored a deuce in five, forced Koe to one in the sixth and counted three in the seventh. 

In women’s division action, recent WFG Masters winner Allison Flaxey of Caledon, Ont., picked up where she left off defeating Chelsea Carey of Calgary 9-3.

“It’s really great to just continue that momentum forward from last week,” said Flaxey, who captured her first career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title in Okotoks, Alta. “I’m happy with the start.”

Flaxey scored three in the second to jump ahead and never looked back stealing two in the third end to lead 5-1. The reigning Canadian women’s champion Carey counted a single in the fourth and stole a point in the sixth to close within two, however, Flaxey put the exclamation mark on the match scoring four in the seventh end.

“That was great,” Flaxey said. “I kind of blew it in the sixth end. I had a similar shot to probably end the game but it’s nice to have another chance at it and make it.” 

Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque was the event’s first winner with a commanding 8-2 victory over Ayumi Ogasawara of Japan. Rocque opened with a three count in the first, held Ogasawara to one in the third and scored a deuce in four to go up 5-1 at the break. Rocque stole three in the fifth and limited Ogasawara to just another single in six to bring out the early handshakes.

Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater, Ont., stole a 7-5 win from Edmonton’s Val Sweeting. Middaugh tied it up with a single in seven and completed the comeback when Sweeting tried to make a runback in eight to move one of her stones into shot position, however, it rolled and she gave up two. 

In the Tier 2 division, Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay, Ont., crushed Vancouver’s Diane Gushulak 9-1; Marla Mallett of Walnut Grove, B.C., stole a point in the eighth end to slip past Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta., 6-5.; and Shannon Kleibrink of Okotoks, Alta., scored a deuce in the eighth to edge Yellowknife’s Kerry Galusha 8-7.

NOTES: The Tour Challenge is the second of seven events on the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule. … All Tier 1 games will be played at Western Financial Place. Tier 2 division games are underway at Memorial Arena. … TV coverage begins Thursday at 3 p.m. ET / Noon PT on Sportsnet and online/mobile at Sportsnet NOW. … Tour Challenge action resumes Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. MT. … The Tour Challenge runs through to Sunday at Western Financial Place (all Tier 1 games and Tier 2 finals) and Memorial Arena (Tier 2 games from round-robin play to semifinals).