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SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — The top teams return to the tour for the Boost National, the third event of the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season, starting Tuesday night at the Essar Centre.

There was a slight detour the past couple weeks for the European Championships and Canada Cup, but everyone is back on track now in the points chase.

Here’s a full rundown of what you need to know ahead of the opening draw:

1st End: A brief history of the Boost National

The Boost National is the second major of the year as one of the four original Pinty’s GSOC events dating back to the inaugural 2001-02 season.

Sault Ste. Marie hosts the Boost National for the third time. Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen topped hometown hero Brad Jacobs for the title two years ago at the Essar Centre. The Olympic gold medallist Jacobs would love nothing more than to win the Boost National in front of his fans and he’s pumped to finish the job this time around.

Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., is the defending men’s champion with Ottawa’s Rachel Homan capturing the inaugural women’s trophy a year ago in Oshawa, Ont.

2nd End: Gushue planning to return

Gushue looks to make his season debut after missing eight events to start the year due to a hip/groin issue.

Interim skip Mark Nichols drops back to his regular third position. Nichols kept the team in first place on the World Curling Tour’s Order of Merit by qualifying for the playoffs in all eight tournaments including a runner-up finish at the Canada Cup this past weekend.

Now he hands the wheel back to Gushue as they prepare to defend the Boost National title.

3rd End: Back to the points trail for the Trials

With the Canada Cup complete it’s back to the tour point race for teams wishing to qualify for next year’s Olympic Trials and continue their quest to wear the red and white at the 2018 Winter Games.

At least three men’s and three women’s spots are available at the end of this season via the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) standings. Berths are also awarded to the teams that finish with the best two-year totals.

Teams will try to snap up every point they can and the Boost National offers the best opportunity to do just that due to the strong strength of field that leads to the most points up for grabs.

There’s also the long road through the pre-trials qualifier, but those top teams will prefer to have their spots secure by the end of this season.

4th End: Momentum on the side of Jones, Carruthers

Reid Carruthers and his team from West St. Paul, Man., locked up a men’s spot at next year’s Olympic Trials defeating Nichols 8-6 in the Canada Cup final Sunday.

Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones downed Homan 9-5 on the women’s side, however, both already clinched their berths last season thus denying another team a shot at punching their ticket.

Calgary’s Kevin Koe also has a place at the Trials in Ottawa as last season’s Canada Cup men’s winner.

Jones and Carruthers will look to propel those wins into another big week at the Boost National.

Jones only lost once during the Canada Cup, to Edmonton’s Val Sweeting in the round-robin, and a huge steal of four during the third end of the final had Homan in chase mode the rest of the way.

The men’s side was a different picture as it really was anyone’s game all week with no team distancing itself from the pack. Even the final between Carruthers and Nichols could have gone either way with both teams battling back and forth punching points on the scoreboard. Carruthers found an opening with Nichols’s mistake in the ninth and pounced to score a late three-ender.

Carruthers came out on top against six of the other top men’s teams in Canada and is the king of the castle for now.

5th End: Don’t you forget about Edin

The Canada Cup may have dominated the headlines the past week, but remember the top team this season so far is Niklas Edin’s Swedish squad.

Edin has been on fire winning five tour events, including both Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling men’s tournaments, plus the European Championship.

Only Kevin Martin, Glenn Howard and Homan have won three consecutive Pinty’s GSOC titles and Edin eyes a spot among that exclusive club.

Edin earned his first career Grand Slam — and the first for a non-Canadian men’s team — at the WFG Masters in late October and for an encore captured his second series title two weeks later at the Tour Challenge.

6th End: Sponsor’s exemptions add intrigue

The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling granted sponsor’s exemptions for the Boost National to a pair of Northern Ontario teams.

Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay will play in the women’s division. McCarville has only competed in a few events this season following a comeback season last year winning four consecutive tour titles plus a silver medal at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Tanner Horgan of Sudbury makes his series debut on the men’s side. Horgan, runner-up at the Canadian juniors, has balanced this year with a handful of men’s events alongside his junior schedule.

Both will be in tough but it’ll be interesting to see if they can make some noise as the wild card entries.

7th End: Cathy O gets the call

Cathy Overton-Clapham has been the “super spare” twice during the past two seasons, can she make it three in a row?

Overton-Clapham joins Silvana Tirinzoni’s Swiss team at the Boost National filling in for third Manuel Siegrist, who is out with a knee injury.

The five-time Grand Slam champ Overton-Clapham won the Masters in 2014 with Sweeting and captured the Players’ Championship in April with Eve Muirhead’s team.

8th End: Watch on Sportsnet & CBC

Can’t make it to Sault Ste. Marie? Sportsnet and CBC will have live coverage of the Boost National beginning Thursday. Click here for the TV schedule.

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