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CRANBROOK, B.C. — It took Sweden’s Niklas Edin almost a decade to capture his first Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling men’s title. He didn’t think it would take only two weeks to win his second.

“Maybe a little longer,” Edin said with a smile.

Edin defeated Scotland’s Kyle Smith 7-3 for the Tour Challenge Tier 1 men’s championship to win back-to-back titles in the series.

It was just a fortnight ago at the WFG Masters when Edin became the first non-Canadian men’s team to win a Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title and the skip credits the new brush and sweeping rules introduced this season for breaking through.

“We’re in really good form and I think the whole new brush situation has just given us so much motivation this season,” he said. “Last year having an injury in Kristian [Lindstroem] and you needed a lot of pressure to get effect with those brushes and we couldn’t really do that. He had a really bad shoulder and had surgery so we didn’t really get the chance last year we felt.

“Now coming back with everyone on equal terms again we really want to show what we can do on the ice and so far it’s going, I don’t want to say easy, but we’re playing really well and we’re seeing mistakes from the others teams that we never saw last year so we know we can fight against any team out there now.” 

Rookie second Rasmus Wrana is now 2-for-2 in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling series after joining the Edin team this season to replace the injured Lindstroem. Third Oskar Eriksson and lead Christoffer Sundgren round out the lineup that cashed in $20,000 CAD.

The team didn’t get out of the gate hot in Cranbrook as they dropped their first two games before rebounding with six straight must-win victories including a 6-3 tiebreaker win over Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., to qualify for the playoffs. Edin points to that match as the turning point as there was nothing left to lose by that point and it was either go big or go home. 

“We kind of knew 2-2 would be good for at least a tiebreaker. We had a really tough start against [Steve] Laycock and [Mike] McEwen, they’re really good Slam teams, obviously,” Edin said. “We didn’t really figure out the ice and the rocks. It was tricky for all of the teams in the beginning. We played really well in the first game. Probably should have won that one but when we lost and got outplayed by McEwen.

“During that 0-2 start, we knew there’s nothing to hold back now and have to go all-in and really have to win those last two and then when we did that it gave us a confidence boost. We knew that if we could beat Jacobs in the tiebreaker we might win this event. That was the turning point I think, beating Jacobs in the tiebreaker. That gave us the confidence to win the event.” 

The 2013 world junior champ Smith, playing in his first Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling final, opened with the hammer and drew to the button for a single in the first. Edin hit Smith’s shot rock on the nose out for a deuce in the second to take the lead and never relinquished it from there. The two-time world champion Edin stole one in the third to make it 3-1 when Smith’s runback missed the counter.

Edin dropped a three-ender in the fifth to pull away 6-2. Smith drew to the four-foot circle for a single in six and Edin matched with another point in the seventh to bring out the handshakes.

As he’s now a veteran of these championship games, Edin felt confident he could pull off the win over Smith in the first Pinty’s GSOC all-European men’s final. 

“Kind of knowing we are the better team in this final and we know that we have a good record against that team. They’re playing really well but coming down to a final like this but it’s their first final as well so I think it’s a lot about mentality and having been there before,” he said. “We knew if we just take it easy, we didn’t want to risk too much but then when we get a chance we can try and grab it. We would get our chances. 

“They made a few mistakes that they normally don’t do and we capitalized on them. I think if we played them again in the final it would be a way tougher game but this time we felt we had it in our hands if we played it like we did this week.”

Elsewhere, Greg Balsdon of Kingston topped Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene 5-4 for the Tier 2 men’s title in the all-Ontario final. Balsdon earned a berth to the 2017 Meridian Canadian Open to join the elite ranks.

Balsdon jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to steals of one in the first and two in the second. After alternating singles in three and four, Howard scored a deuce in the fifth, forced Balsdon to another single in the sixth and blanked the seventh to retain the hammer coming home trailing by one. Although Howard had a shot to score two for the win, his shooter rolled heavy to only count a single and Balsdon hung on.

“I miss my last shot by a couple millimetres and then he doesn’t even have to throw his last one,” Balsdon said. “You always want to make the shot to win the game. You hate seeing someone miss a shot for us to win but it was exciting. This is a huge deal for us. It gets us into provincials, gets us obviously into the Slam in North Battleford and possibly the Champions Cup.”

For Balsdon it’s been a season of perseverance. Balsdon started the year returning from hip surgery only to lose third Don Bowser to a knee injury during their first tournament of the season in Oakville, Ont. A plethora of spares filled in with second Jonathan Beuk moving up to third while Scott Chadwick has remained at lead. Balsdon had David Staples playing second during the Tour Challenge.

Earlier Sunday, Edmonton’s Val Sweeting earned her second career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title with an 8-4 victory over Michelle Englot and her Winnipeg-based team in the Tier 1 women’s final.

Jacqueline Harrison of Mississauga edged Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay 5-4 during an extra end of the Tier 2 women’s final. Team Harrison also earned a spot in the 2017 Meridian Canadian Open.

The 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season continues with the Boost National running Dec. 6-11 at the Essar Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.