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Heave away to Conception Bay South, N.L., the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling returns to town with the Boost National beginning Tuesday night at CBS Arena.

The third event and second major of the elite series features 15 of the top men’s teams and 15 of the top women’s teams from around the world competing for a $300,000 purse divided equally between both divisions. The winners receive $35,000 plus berths to the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup. Points are also up for grabs towards the Pinty’s Cup, awarded to the season champions following the conclusion of the Players’ Championship in April.

Broadcast coverage begins Thursday at 11 a.m. ET on Sportsnet.

Here are teams and storylines to watch out for this week.

1st End: Let’s get the local favourites out of the way first since all eyes are going to be on Brad Gushue. The house was packed for Gushue’s crew from down the road in St. John’s, N.L., when CBS Arena held the event a year ago and we expect more of the same this time around, too.

Gushue gave his fans quite the scare last time needing a tiebreaker to qualify for the playoffs but then fell in the quarterfinals, which had been his Achilles’ heel last season. The 11-time GSOC title winner has turned things around this year posting back-to-back runner-up results already in the series. Could the third time be the charm?

2nd End: Ottawa’s Rachel Homan and Toronto’s John Epping are carrying momentum from their Canada Cup victories at the start of the month becoming the first to punch their tickets to the Olympic Trials in two years. Team Homan had some uncharacteristic struggles in the first couple of GSOC events this season, missing the playoffs both times, so expect a better performance for the defending Boost National champions. Team Epping, ranked No. 1 in the world, played as such during the Canada Cup losing just twice to Team Bottcher and Team Koe and avenging both in the playoffs. If they can maintain that level they’ll be a threat here as well.

3rd End: Sweden’s Niklas Edin and Anna Hasselborg are flying high again as well following their European Championship wins on home ice last month. Hasselborg also captured the last GSOC title, the KIOTI Tractor Tour Challenge, and considering her team won their first couple GSOC championships back-to-back last season, could another streak emerge here?

4th End: Who’s No. 1 in the women’s division? It depends on which ranking you’re looking at but either way it’s a team from Manitoba. Kerri Einarson’s club from Gimli tops the WCF world team rankings while Tracy Fleury’s squad from East St. Paul leads the way in year-to-date points. Einarson finished runner-up to Hasselborg at the KIOTI Tractor Tour Challenge and was second to Homan here a year ago. Fleury has played in nine tournaments already this season and has qualified for the playoffs in all nine of them. We expect that to extend to a perfect 10 here.

5th End: We haven’t seen the real Team Koe in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling this season yet with third B.J. Neufeld missing the first couple of events while away on paternity leave. Neufeld has returned and Kevin Koe’s runner-up result at the Canada Cup showed the reigning Brier champions and world silver medallists from Calgary are back in business.

6th End: Brad Jacobs’ team had their first rough patch this season at the Canada Cup as they missed the playoffs with a 2-4 record. The crew from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., spoke about resiliency being a key trait among their group, so it’ll be interesting to see how the KIOTI Tractor Tour Challenge men’s champions rebound from that performance.

The Brendan Bottcher express train was on a roll again at the KIOTI Tractor Tour Challenge until derailing against the red-hot Team Jacobs in the semifinals. Bottcher, of Edmonton, was undefeated up until that point but with Jacobs firing 98 per cent as a unit, there was no stopping them that week. Team Bottcher should get back on track here.

7th End: Sayaka Yoshimura’s team became the first Japanese squad to reach a GSOC final at the Masters, could Satsuki Fujisawa’s team be next? And soon? The Kitami-based club made their first semifinal in the series at the KIOTI Tractor Tour Challenge and look poised to take the next step.

8th End: Ross Paterson’s Scottish side will be in tough to defend the Boost National men’s title but considering they flew under the radar to capture the championship last time, they shouldn’t be underestimated again, especially after securing bronze at the European Championships. Speaking of Euro bronze medallists, Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni has also put together a solid yet silent season ranked No. 2 on both Order of Merit and year-to-date rankings. The reigning world champs should start to make noise.