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Niklas Edin. (Anil Mungal)

Eight Ends: Edin, Tirinzoni find right route to Stu Sells title

OAKVILLE, Ont. — The Stu Sells Oakville Tankard featured 20-team triple knockout men’s and women’s divisions and the results this past weekend were quite interesting.

If you’re not familiar with the format, all teams start in the A bracket with losers dropping to the B side. From the B stage, the losers there drop to the C bracket. After that, lose once more and it’s C-you-later. Basically, the golden rule is don’t lose three games or else you’re gone.

The perks of qualifying A is you’ll play fewer games heading into the playoffs, usually with a day off to boot, and can sit back and relax in the interim while all of the other teams battle it out and wear each other down (or when you’re in the Toronto area, take in a Blue Jays game like Team Gushue did).

However, some teams prefer playing dangerously on the edge of elimination with every game a must-win scenario. It’s a grind, sure, but it’s early enough in the season right now that everyone should still be fresh and eager to get in as much playing time as possible.

So then, which road was the right path at the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard? As it turned out B-side was the best side. Both Niklas Edin and Silvana Tirinzoni advanced via a small detour through the B bracket en route to the titles. Also interesting to note both runners-up John Morris and Allison Flaxey took the scenic route via C.

As for the A qualifiers, of the two men’s and two women’s teams, only Kyle Smith won in the quarterfinals before falling to Edin during the semis. You don’t need a Ph. D in bracketology or even be a really smart math person to figure out the statistics for qualifying A-side wasn’t the championship route this time.

1st End: Brush issue reaches its conclusion

The World Curling Federation announced Saturday it had approved the recommended brushing and sweeping rules.

In short: brushes will be made from the same fabric regardless of manufacturer, players cannot change brush heads during a game (unless approved by an official), with severe penalties issued to offenders including a one-year ban from WCF competition on a second offence.

As for sweeping, players are allowed to sweep in any direction so long as they do not leave debris in front of a moving stone, and they can finish on either side of the stone.

While the players at the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard already had the new pads in place, the official announcement brings closure to the year-long saga that dragged down the sport and the players couldn’t be happier to see it end.

“It’s a fair fight for everyone now and the way curling should be played,” said Glenn Howard, a four-time world champion. “The skill’s gone back to the thrower, which is the way I was brought up. That’s the way curling should be played as opposed to the sweeping, which was last year.

“I hated the whole thing about last year and I think we’ve solved the problem with what I’ve seen so far.”

2nd End: Gushue sidelined for start of season

Team Gushue took to the ice minus their superstar skip Brad Gushue, who will be out for the start of the season due to a groin/hip issue. Gushue had been playing hurt towards the end of last season, according to the team, but will not require surgery.

It’s a huge blow for the team during a crucial points season for next year’s Canadian Olympic Trials plus their hometown of St. John’s, N.L., hosts the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier, giving them few options but to continue on tour.

“We’d like to lock up that trial spot as early as possible, so you want to play a lot and play well,” Team Gushue third Mark Nichols said. “We’re going to do what we can without him and then once he’s ready to go we’ll have the four of us back together, but our main concern now is to make sure Brad is healthy and not playing through pain.

“We want him ready for the big events — hopefully Canada Cup, provincials, Brier — those are our big events. We want to make sure he’s healthy and ready to go.”

The team’s quarterfinal finish at the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard netted 27.580 points and leapfrogged them past Team Kevin Koe for first place on the World Curling Tour’s Order of Merit.

3rd End: Super spare Spencer crushes it again

If you need a spare, who are you going to call? Adam Spencer.

The Guelph, Ont., native joined Glenn Howard’s team for their provincial run last season after Wayne Middaugh went down with a broken leg. Spencer helped propel them to the Ontario Tankard title and into the Tim Hortons Brier.

With Team Gushue needing a sub for the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, it seemed like a no-brainer who would jump in.

“We said, ‘who better to get?’” said Nichols, who moved up to skip with Spencer playing third. “He spared his way all the way to the Brier.

“The number of times that we played him last year he played unbelievable so we knew we were getting a great player when we asked him. It was just a matter of convincing him to play with us so we’re very fortunate to have him filling in.”

Howard also praised his former teammate Spencer, who was actually wearing his Team Howard jersey from last season during the tournament.

“I can’t say enough about Adam,” Howard said. “He came in last year under pressure to fill in some of the toughest boots going with Wayne Middaugh. He played so well for us. A great guy, a great fit. I couldn’t be more proud to have had him part of our team and to go to the Brier and have some fun.

“If people wonder why they picked up Adam Spencer for Team Gushue, they know he’s one of the best in Ontario. Great to see him and they qualified so he’s not hurting them in any sense.”

Charley Thomas links up with Team Gushue this week at the Shorty Jenkins Classic in Cornwall, Ont., although it’s unknown at this moment what role in the back end the Calgary skip will fill.

4th End: Johnny Mo finds mo-jo again with Cotter’s crew

Kudos to John Morris and his squad for their runner-up finish at the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard in their first event back together.

Morris played third and skipped the B.C. based team, formerly known as Team Cotter, during the 2013-14 season and finished runner-up at both the Canadian Olympic Trials and the Tim Hortons Brier. After two years with Pat Simmons’s team in Calgary, Morris and the band are back together.

Fourth Jim Cotter said the team doesn’t have ice back home yet, which may have made things tricky for them entering the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard.

Team Morris didn’t get out of the gate sharp and fell to the C-side early, but staved off elimination rolling off six consecutive victories within 48 hours to punch their ticket to the championship game.

That’s quite a confidence builder right there to start the season and should give them some momentum.

5th End: Smith’s Oakville winning streak ends

Kyle Smith had quite the two-week trip in Oakville. Smith’s team heads home to Scotland with a 12-1 win-loss record, the Oakville OCT Fall Classic title, a Stu Sells Oakville Tankard semifinal finish, and a total of 78.207 World Curling Tour Order of Merit points.

Team Smith is now ranked 16th in the world on the WCT’s OOM and No. 1 on the year-to-date standings through the first four weeks of the season.

6th End: More “Swedish championship” feel for Hasselborg in Oakville

Anna Hasselborg said it felt like the “Swedish national championship or something” when she defeated compatriot Isabella Wrana during the Oakville OCT Fall Classic women’s final a week ago.

It was the same story for her at the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard. Not only did Hasselborg face Wrana again during the C-qualifiers, she also took on Margaretha Sigfridsson in an A-bracket match-up earlier in the week.

Hasselborg won both games giving her an edge in the home standings. Her team also climbed two spots this week on the WCT’s OOM and are now ranked 15th.

7th End: Scheidegger shocks at the Shoot-Out

Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta., completed a stunning comeback to upset Scotland’s Eve Muirhead for the HDF Shoot-Out title in Edmonton.

Scheidegger trailed 5-2 at the midway point and stole singles in the final four consecutive ends to win 6-5 in Sunday’s final over the four-time Grand Slam champion Muirhead.

Team Scheidegger had a solid weekend overall against a deep field finishing the round-robin portion with a 4-1 record and defeating last year’s event winner Val Sweeting 6-1 in the quarterfinals. An 8-5 victory over Chantelle Eberle during the semis put Scheidegger into the championship match.

Meanwhile, Muirhead was playing her first event with new lead Lauren Gray, who replaced Sarah Reid during the off-season, and returning third Kelly Schafer, who is filling in at the start of the year while Anna Sloan recovers from a knee injury.

The title victory propelled Scheidegger up nine spots and into 23rd pace on the WCT’s OOM.

8th End: Qualification for the Masters

This weekend marked the cut-off date for the first Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event of the season, the WFG Masters. Expect an announcement for the participating teams in the next few days.

The WFG Masters runs Oct. 25-30 at the Pason Centennial Arena in Okotoks, Alta., with tickets available now.