News Elite 10

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — Niklas Edin of Sweden made a couple of key double takeouts to score a 2-and-1 victory Saturday over Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers during the Syncrude Elite 10 quarterfinals.

After starting the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tournament with a 0-2 record, Edin has now earned four consecutive wins including a 3-and-1 victory over Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont., in the morning tiebreaker to qualify. 

“We started off really slow, we played bad and couldn’t figure out the ice and we were not communicating well,” Edin said. “Once we got that must-win feeling we started to play a lot better, we started to communicate more and it seems like everything has just fallen in place so it feels really good.” 

Edin plays No. 1 seed Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., who earned a bye straight to the semifinals.

“Jacobs has been playing outstanding all week so we expect it to be a tough game against them,” Edin said.

The non-major Syncrude Elite 10 tournament uses match play rules. Teams compete to win the most ends by either scoring two or more points (with hammer) or steal at least one point (without hammer). A blank results in loss of hammer similar to a skins game, however, the unclaimed point does not carry over to the next end.

With the quarterfinal matchup against Carruthers all square, Edin connected with a double to sit two in the fifth and stole the sixth end to pull 2-up. Edin made another double with his final shot in seven to eliminate Carruthers from contention. 

“That’s our bread and butter, so to speak,” Edin said. “We need to make those shots because we’re not yet at the same level as the other teams here on the draw shots. We still need to work on a lot of those things but once it comes to the defensive game, playing hard takeouts and doubles and stuff, I think there’s no one out there that can beat us. We need to find situations where we can use that.”

Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen also advanced to the semifinals sliding past Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., 4-and-3. McEwen now meets Calgary’s Kevin Koe, who secured the second bye to the semifinals.

Gushue, who has won two Grand Slams this season, struggled with his draw weight and McEwen, who won the National in November, stayed on point to steal the first three ends. It looked like Gushue was going to get on the scoreboard in the fourth but wrecked on a guard resulting in a push and losing the hammer. Gushue needed to steal the fifth end in order to stay in the tournament but couldn’t get shot stone with his final rock and McEwen didn’t need to throw his last stone.

Watch the Syncrude Elite 10 semifinals live on Sportsnet at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT.