Eight Ends: Smith, Hasselborg closing in on curling’s elite
OAKVILLE, Ont. — As Labour Day signals the end of summer holidays, the curling season is just heating up.
Week 3 of the tour schedule got underway with the Oakville OCT Fall Classic. Both of Sunday’s championship games saw some international flavour: Kyle Smith of Scotland defeated American Heath McCormick 7-2 on the men’s side and Anna Hasselborg topped Isabella Wrana 6-2 in the all-Swedish rink women’s final.
There are plenty of “hot takes” from the warm Labour Day weekend. Here are our takeaways from the Canadian kickoff to the World Curling Tour:
1st End: Hard work paying off early for Team Smith
Smith and his crew are hitting the road early and often to stake their claim as the top team in Scotland and a threat for tour championships.
Team Smith, the 2013 world junior champions, wasted no time following their quarterfinal finish the previous weekend in Baden, Switzerland, immediately arriving in Canada to prepare for back-to-back Oakville events. So far it’s working for the team of Smith, Thomas Muirhead, Kyle Waddell and Cammy Smith as they powered through the Fall Classic posting an undefeated 7-0 record.
Smith’s surge up to 18th on the World Curling Tour’s Order of Merit (OOM) will be intriguing if they can maintain their pace and continue to climb.
Team Smith now look to complete the “Oakville double” with the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard this weekend at the same rink where they could really send a message.
2nd End: Hasselborg closing in on elite
Team Hasselborg also completed an undefeated 7-0 run through the Oakville OCT Fall Classic with the win over compatriots Team Wrana.
Hasselborg said it felt like the “Swedish championship or something” and welcomes the competition within her nation as she believes it’ll make them better in their quest to represent Sweden at the upcoming European Championships.
Not only is Hasselborg looking to establish herself as the team to beat in Sweden, she’s now ranked 17th on the OOM and closing in on the elite. The team of Hasselborg, Sara McManus, Agnes Knochenhauer and Sofia Mabergs competed in two Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling events last season — the Tour Challenge Tier 2 and the National — and they could be in the mix for future invites.
Team Hasselborg had no plans to rest and were back on the ice Monday in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., for the co-ed Performance Spider Midweek Special featuring three women’s and nine men’s teams.
3rd End: Everything’s coming up Sweden
Credit should also go to 19-year-old Wrana for reaching the final. Team Wrana have been creating a buzz on the women’s tour, despite still being eligible for juniors, and their runner-up finish shows you should start believing the hype if you haven’t already.
Sweden reigned supreme at the event even on the men’s side, sort of. Team Smith wore their second jerseys during some of their games, which feature Sweden’s familiar yellow and blue colours. Perhaps it’s an influence from coach Viktor Kjell, who you may remember as the lead on Niklas Edin’s team that won the 2013 world championship and 2014 Olympic bronze medal.
4th End: Sinclair jumps out of the gate in U.S. race
Three American women’s teams were in action in Oakville and skips Cory Christensen, Nina Roth and Jamie Sinclair are all looking to emerge as the top in the nation following the retirement of reigning U.S. champ Erika Brown.
Sinclair had the best finish of the three reaching the semifinals while both Christensen and Roth missed the playoffs altogether. Sinclair defeated Roth 4-3 during round-robin play in the only head-to-head match among the trio.
Christensen maintained her lead as the top U.S. team on the OOM, ranked 26th, while the semifinal finish boosted Sinclair up 12 places to 35th, one spot and about 3.3 points behind Roth. All three teams are back in action this week for the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard.
5th End: McCormick drifts back into contention
American Heath McCormick’s return to the High Performance Program is already earning dividends. The Blaine, Minn., team entered the final undefeated like Team Smith, however, there could only be one reigning in the end.
McCormick is back playing with 2014-15 teammate Chris Plys (third) this season and has a fresh front-end featuring 2016 world junior silver medallists Korey Dropkin (second) and Thomas Howell (lead).
Just like on the women’s side, if McCormick keeps up the pace it should make for an interesting three-way battle with John Shuster and Brady Clark by the time U.S. nationals roll around.
6th End: All of the Horgans qualify
It might have been a first for the Horgan family of Sudbury, Ont., with four siblings in action on the ice at the same time. Sisters Tracy Fleury and Jennifer Wylie led Team Fleury into the women’s quarterfinals while their younger brothers Tanner and Jacob Horgan of Team Horgan also made the quarters on the men’s side.
The teenage Horgan Bros. might have felt like they were in tough against a rink like Team John Epping, but the Canadian junior silver medallists were hanging in there scoring an 8-7 upset victory.
It was sort of a Canadian junior final rematch as Team Horgan ran into Winnipeg’s Team Jason Gunnlaugson in the quarterfinals. Gunnlaugson’s new rink features the trio of Colton Lott, Kyle Doering and Robbie Gordon. The trio, with skip Matt Dunstone, defeated Team Horgan to capture the gold medal at the Canadian juniors earlier this year. Gunnlaugson came out on top in the pseudo-rematch 6-4 and advanced to the semifinals.
It was interesting to see what combo the five-player Team Fleury would hit the ice with. As it turned out it was just three with only second Jenna Walsh joining Fleury (skip) and Wylie (third) on the trip. Lead Amanda Gates and fifth Crystal Webster were absent as Leigh Armstrong of Team Sherry Middaugh filled in.
7th End: Sharpshooting from the Gunner
Perhaps it’s a case of “if you can’t beat them, join them.”
Gunnlaugson played third for William Lyburn last season and lost to Team Dunstone in the Manitoba men’s provincials page playoffs. As mentioned in the previous end, Gunnlaugson took over Dunstone’s crew and so far they’ve looked sharp.
Team Gunnlaugson’s semifinal finish moved them up four spots on the OOM into 20th.
8th End: Tour continues in Oakville
The World Curling Tour stays put at the Oakville Curling Club for another weekend with the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard starting Thursday. More curlers will start their season including Brad Gushue, Reid Carruthers and Steve Laycock, among other top-ranked teams. The event also sees John Morris’s return to skipping Team Cotter’s crew, now know as Team Morris, while Pat Simmons makes his debut playing third for Brendan Bottcher.
A stronger field means more points will be up for grabs this weekend and could shuffle the OOM ahead of the cut-off date for the WFG Masters, the first Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event of the season.
Meanwhile, the top women’s teams are split up this weekend with some sticking around for the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard while others are off to Edmonton for the HDF Insurance Shoot-Out. Chelsea Carey, Eve Muirhead, Kelsey Rocque and defending champion Val Sweeting are among those competing in the Alberta event.