Craik completes upset over Retornaz at Co-op Canadian Open
RED DEER, Alta. — Scotland’s Team James Craik stunned Italy’s Team Joël Retornaz with a 5-4 extra-end victory during Draw 3 action Tuesday in the Co-op Canadian Open at Servus Arena.
Craik, the No. 13 seed in the Grand Slam of Curling tournament, scored a deuce in the first end and never trailed as the teams alternated singles in the second and fourth then again in the fifth and sixth.
The top-seed Retornaz, who has captured three straight Grand Slam men’s titles, took two in the eighth to tie it 4-all, but Craik held the hammer in the extra frame and was able to count the winning single.
Retornaz and his crew are aiming to become the first to capture four consecutive Grand Slam titles in a single season.
Elsewhere in Draw 3, Calgary’s Team Kevin Koe opened with a 7-4 victory over Team Niklas Edin from Sweden.
Trailing by one in the sixth, Koe pulled off a crazy double takeout in typical Koe fashion to score three and jump ahead 5-3.
Edin could only get a single in the seventh to hand the hammer over to Koe for the final frame. Koe bumped his own pair to get to Edin’s shot rock with the last shot of the game to tack two more points on the board.
Winnipeg’s Team Matt Dunstone downed Team Korey Dropkin from the United States 8-2 and Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat cruised past Team Danny Casper of the United States 10-3.
CO-OP CANADIAN OPEN: SCORES / STANDINGS | DRAW SCHEDULE | BROADCAST SCHEDULE
UP NEXT
The Co-op Canadian Open continues with Draw 4 at 8:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. MT.
Broadcast coverage begins Thursday at 2 p.m. ET / Noon MT on Sportsnet, Sportsnet+ (Canada) and gsoclive.com (international).
NOTES
The Co-op Canadian Open is the fourth event of the Grand Slam of Curling season featuring 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from around the world. … Round-robin play runs through to Friday evening with the best eight teams in both divisions advancing to Saturday’s quarterfinals. If necessary, one tiebreaker round will be played Saturday morning to determine the final playoff berths. … The semifinals are also on tap Saturday with both finals scheduled for Sunday.
