News Tour Challenge

CRANBROOK, B.C. — The world’s best are back in action this week for the Tour Challenge, the second stop of the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule.

The Tour Challenge picks right up from an exciting season start at the WFG Masters where a pair of new Grand Slam champions were crowned just eight days ago: Team Flaxey and Team Edin. We’re now in for a treat with the largest event on the calendar featuring 60 teams split into two tiers.

Tier 1 consists of the best 15 men’s teams and 15 women’s teams from around the world with all games taking place at Western Financial Place. Tier 2 sees the following 10 men’s teams and 10 women’s teams ranked on the World Curling Tour’s Order of Merit plus five regional rinks per division to round out the field competing for an opportunity to fast-track up the charts. The Tier 2 games will be played at Memorial Arena except for the finals, which join up with the Tier 1 championship games at Western Financial Place.

Can’t make it to Cranbrook? Sportsnet will have you covered starting Thursday at 3 p.m. ET / Noon PT.

Here’s our full rundown ahead of Tuesday night’s opening draw:

1st End: A brief history of the Tour Challenge

This is just the second time the Tour Challenge will be held with the inaugural event last season on the opposite side of Canada in Paradise, N.L.

Flashback to September 2015 and Calgary’s Kevin Koe edging local favourite Brad Gushue of St. John’s in an extra end during the men’s final. For Koe it was his first big win with his new crew of Marc Kennedy, Brent Laing and Ben Hebert en route to a banner season capturing Brier and world championships.

Meanwhile, Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland stunned Ottawa’s Rachel Homan to pick up her first career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title. Tirinzoni stole two in the eighth end of the women’s final that was dubbed the “fog bowl” due to the unusual weather conditions in the venue with a layer of fog hovering around ice level.

Jim Cotter of Vernon, B.C., emerged as the Tier 2 men’s winner to reclaim his place among the elite while Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson came through on the women’s side to kick-start a breakout season.

2nd End: Who will be this season’s Tier 2 rising star?

Winners of the Tier 2 division get a chance to move on up to the top ranks by earning berths to the 2017 Meridian Canadian Open in North Battleford, Sask.

Last year’s champs qualified for the Masters and both Cotter and Einarson proved they belonged. Cotter made it all the way to the men’s final, falling just short to Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen, while Einarson was a semifinalist, coincidentally beating Tour Challenge Tier 1 champ Tirinzoni during the Masters quarters.

Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont., is the top-ranked men’s skip in the Tier 2 and could use the opportunity to get back into elite after dropping down the order.

Ontario’s Jacqueline Harrison and Krista McCarville both had a taste of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling series last season playing in the Humpty’s Champions Cup and could also use the Tier 2 as a springboard back. Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta., has already stunned the tour going 3-for-3 in events and looks poised for Slam success.

Five men’s and five women’s teams in Tier 2 were invited from within the region to help give back to the local curling scene. Among them are the next generation of stars: Tyler Tardi, the reigning B.C. junior men’s champ and bronze medallist at junior nationals, and Corryn Brown, the 2013 Canadian junior women’s winner.

3rd End: What else is at stake?

Teams in the Tier 1 division also compete for Rogers Grand Slam Cup points to determine the season champions following the conclusion of the Players’ Championship. Rogers Grand Slam Cup champs earn a $75,000 bonus.

Winners of the Tier 1 also qualify for the year-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup running April 25-30, 2017, in Calgary. So far only defending champs Reid Carruthers and Jennifer Jones and Masters champs Allison Flaxey and Niklas Edin have qualified with 13 men’s and 13 women’s spots still to be determined.

4th End: Welcome back, Savill

The Tour Challenge marks the return of 12-time Grand Slam champion Craig Savill.

The Ottawa native was forced to step back from competitive curling last season as he battled with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. With his cancer in remission, Savill made a couple spare appearances on tour earlier this year and is now ready for a full-time comeback joining Charley Thomas’s Edmonton-based team at lead for the remainder of the season.

It’s sure to be an emotional opening night when Savill hits the ice for the first time with his new squad playing against Team Carruthers.

5th End: How will Edin and Flaxey fare at the Tour Challenge?

Curling is like other event-based sports where the saying is, “once you win your first, the rest will come in bunches.” However, there’s another cliché at the opposite end of the spectrum and the one everyone wishes to avoid: one-hit wonder.

Team Flaxey, of Caledon, Ont., had a breakout performance at the WFG Masters powering through the tiebreaker, quarterfinals and semifinals stages with stolen victories before capping it off with a convincing win over Homan in the final.

Edin had reached Grand Slam finals before but it took the third time for him to finally capture one by stealing in the extra end over Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. The Swedish skip had waited years for that moment while his new second Rasmus Wrana is 1-for-1 in Slam appearances winning in his series debut.

Both teams have been solid this season with Flaxey reaching two other finals and Edin capturing a total of four titles already on tour. It’ll be interesting to see if they can maintain the momentum for another round at the Tour Challenge.

6th End: Men’s division storylines to follow

Toronto’s John Epping has been heating up on tour coming off an impressive undefeated performance at the CookstownCash in Ontario, his second title after winning in Gatineau, Que., just a little over two weeks ago. Epping was rolling at the WFG Masters too until running into Edin in the quarterfinals.

Team Gushue (minus Gushue) has qualified for the playoffs in all six events they’ve played in this season. Vice skip Mark Nichols, the Evgeni Malkin to Gushue’s Sidney Crosby, has taken the reins calling the shots in the interim and super spare Adam Spencer gets the call to play third this week. The Guelph, Ont., native Spencer has filled in twice already this season and helped them win the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard last month.

Jacobs should bounce back from the disappointing WFG Masters finish and be fired up to get the job done.

7th End: Women’s division storylines to follow

Homan is the closest to a sure-bet qualifier you can find in the sport, however, her pool features arguably the toughest group with Einarson, Tracy Fleury of Sudbury, Ont., Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque and Ayumi Ogasawara of Japan.

Einarson, Fleury and Rocque all missed the playoffs at the WFG Masters and look to rebound while Ogasawara went 4-1 in her Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling series debut last season at the Humpty’s Champions Cup. Tiebreakers may be needed to solve this set.

Anna Hasselborg of Sweden was looking like the breakout performer of the WFG Masters until Flaxey literally stole the show. Hasselborg made stellar shot-after-shot to reach the semifinals and should carry that confidence into the Tour Challenge.

Last year’s win was a dream come true for Tirinzoni and expect her to be charged to defend the title.

8th End: Tour recap — Epping cashes in

Epping edged defending champ Peter de Cruz of Switzerland for the CookstownCash title winning 5-4 in Sunday’s final.

Both teams kept pace through to the seventh end when Epping pulled off another amazing shot, this time an in-off from the side of the house to squeeze into a cluster of rocks near the button for shot. Team De Cruz had the hammer and fourth Benoit Schwarz looked to pull off an identical move from the opposite side but couldn’t get it and gave up a steal to trail by two coming home.

De Cruz had a chance to tie it or score three for the win in the eighth end, however, Schwarz wasn’t able to shove his last into the open pocket and only counted one as Epping held on.

Heather Heggestad of Thornhill, Ont. picked up the women’s title with a 6-5 victory over Mallory Kean of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.

Meanwhile, Charlottetown’s Robyn MacPhee topped Ogasawara 6-2 in Sunday’s final at the Royal LePage OVCA Women’s Fall Classic in Kemptville, Ont. The members of Team MacPhee have all played for long-time P.E.I. Scotties rep Suzanne Birt in the past and look to be the super team to emerge from the island this season.