Eight Ends: What you need to know for the 2024 Princess Auto Players’ Championship
TORONTO — The Grand Slam of Curling season wraps up this week with the prestigious Princess Auto Players’ Championship.
The action begins Tuesday at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. Broadcast coverage begins Thursday on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ (Canada) and gsoclive.com (international).
Here’s a rundown of all the event info and key storylines you need to know.
FIRST END: WHAT’S AT STAKE?
The Princess Auto Players’ Championship is considered one of the toughest titles to win on tour as only the top 12 men’s teams and top 12 women’s teams from around the world receive invitations. Teams compete for ranking points (which will help them receive invites to the Grand Slams next season) with a $480,000 combined purse, split equally between the men’s and women’s divisions, on the line.
History also plays a factor at the Princess Auto Players’ Championship. This is the 31st running of the men’s tournament and the 18th for the women’s tournament. The list of winners is a who’s who of curling greats such as Kevin Martin, Wayne Middaugh, Jeff Stoughton and Glenn Howard on the men’s side plus Jennifer Jones, Cheryl Bernard and Eve Muirhead on the women’s side.
Both divisions consist of two pools with six teams each for round-robin play. The top six teams overall qualify for Saturday’s playoffs with the best two receiving byes to the evening semifinals. If necessary, tiebreaker games will be played Saturday morning. Both finals are scheduled for Sunday.
SECOND END: END OF AN ERA
The Princess Auto Players’ Championship will mark the final Grand Slam of Curling event for iconic skip Jennifer Jones, who announced in February she will be stepping back from women’s curling at the end of the season.
Jones’ list of accomplishments could fill the rest of this article, so let’s stick to the heavy hitters: Olympic gold, two world championships and six Scotties Tournament of Hearts titles. Jones has also won 10 women’s titles in the Grand Slam of Curling including six at the Princess Auto Players’ Championship. Now, wouldn’t it be something if she captured one more to go out on top?
THIRD END: GOTTA CATCH ‘EM ALL
Rachel Homan’s Ottawa-based team has been on fire all season long sporting an unprecedented 62-6 record. The reigning Canadian and world champion has also won back-to-back Grand Slam of Curling women’s titles entering the Princess Auto Players’ Championship with victories at the WFG Masters and Co-op Canadian Open. Only two skips in the women’s division have won three consecutive Grand Slams in a season: Homan (twice: 2015-16 and 2018-19) and Anna Hasselborg (2019-20).
Homan has claimed a record 15 Grand Slam women’s titles and the Princess Auto Players’ Championship is the last one she needs to cross off the list. Hasselborg is the only skip who has completed the career Grand Slam (winning all four majors) in the women’s division. Homan has finished runner-up in the Princess Auto Players’ Championship three times, most recently in 2021.
| Pool A Women’s Teams | Pool B Women’s Teams |
|---|---|
| Homan (Ottawa, ON) | Tirinzoni (Aarau, SUI) |
| Jones (Winnipeg, MB) | Gim (Uijeongbu, KOR) |
| Hasselborg (Sundbyberg, SWE) | Kim (Gangneung, KOR) |
| Wrana (Sundbyberg, SWE) | Einarson (Gimli, MB) |
| Constantini (Cortina d’Ampezzo, ITA) | Lawes (Winnipeg, MB) |
| Fujisawa (Kitami, JPN) | X. Schwaller (Zurich, SUI) |
FOURTH END: NO REST FOR THE WORLD’S BEST
Teams skipped by Niklas Edin, Brad Gushue, Bruce Mouat, Joel Retornaz and Yannick Schwaller are all making the trek straight from the world men’s curling championship in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. For some, it’ll be all about maintaining the momentum while fighting fatigue. With the season just about complete though, you can bet they’ll leave it all on the line before they can take a nice summer break as we’ve seen in the past.
All five also made the trip from the worlds to the Players’ last year and four qualified for the playoffs. Gushue and Schwaller were flying high until they were Koe’d in the semis and final, respectively. Schwaller eliminated Edin in the quarterfinals and Retornaz in the semis en route to the final. Mouat, who was the double defending winner at the Princess Auto Players’ Championship, was the only one of the bunch who missed the cut for the playoffs as his team fell short of a historic three-peat going 0-5.
| Pool A Men’s Teams | Pool B Men’s Teams |
|---|---|
| Retornaz (Trentino, ITA) | Bottcher (Calgary, AB) |
| Whyte (Stirling, SCO) | Mouat (Stirling, SCO) |
| Y. Schwaller (Geneva, SUI) | Gushue (St. John’s, NL) |
| Dunstone (Winnipeg, MB) | Edin (Karlstad, SWE) |
| McEwen (Saskatoon, SK) | Koe (Calgary, AB) |
| Craik (Forfar, SCO) | Carruthers (Winnipeg, MB) |
With Brad Jacobs calling the shots for Team Carruthers, it’s interesting to note Pool B is comprised entirely of skips who have previously won the Princess Auto Players’ Championship.
FIFTH END: FOUR SCORE FOR RETORNAZ?
Although Retornaz had his consecutive title streak end at three with a loss to Ross Whyte in the Co-op Canadian Open quarterfinals, his Italian club could still make history at the Princess Auto Players’ Championship. Retornaz looks to become the first to win four championships in the series in a single season.
SIXTH END: CTRS POINTS CHASE
The season finale event also means Canadian teams in the hunt for pre-qualifying berths to next season’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts and Montana’s Brier will be in a race here to score as many points as possible. Here’s how the top six standings look as of Monday.
| Rank | Men’s Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Brendan Bottcher | 366.750 |
| 2. | Brad Gushue* | 286.750 |
| 3. | Matt Dunstone | 224.250 |
| 4. | Mike McEwen | 213.500 |
| 5. | Kevin Koe | 209.500 |
| 6. | Reid Carruthers | 208.000 |
| Rank | Women’s Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Rachel Homan* | 490.000 |
| 2. | Jennifer Jones | 316.125 |
| 3. | Kerri Einarson | 251.250 |
| 4. | Kaitlyn Lawes | 207.375 |
| 5. | Selena Sturmay | 180.125 |
| 6. | Kate Cameron | 167.000 |
Teams can earn up to 75 points at the Princess Auto Players’ Championship although keep in mind the rankings take into account only a team’s best eight results. The women’s side is certainly interesting depending on what the remaining members of Team Jones decide to do after their skip retires.
SEVENTH END: A GRAND DEBUT
The Princess Auto Players’ Championship marks the series debut for Team Schwaller, Xenia Schwaller that is. In case you didn’t know, she is the daughter of Olympic bronze medallist Andi Schwaller and the cousin of men’s skip Yannick Schwaller. Xenia, seeded 11th in the women’s division, is the reigning world junior women’s champion and has had a breakout season winning four tour events, most notably the DEKALB Superspiel in Manitoba.
EIGHTH END: HOW TO WATCH THE PRINCESS AUTO PLAYERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
Full event and weekend passes plus single draw tickets are available for the Princess Auto Players’ Championship. Purchase your tickets at the Mattamy Athletic Centre box office or online at Ticketmaster.ca.
The full match schedule can be found by clicking here.
Can’t make it to Toronto? Broadcast coverage begins Thursday at 11:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. PT on Sportsnet, Sportsnet+ (Canada) and gsoclive.com (international).
| Date | Time (ET) | Time (PT) | Draw | Channel | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday April 11 | 11:30 a.m. | 8:30 a.m. | Round Robin | Sportsnet | Canada: Sportsnet+ International: gsoclive.com |
| 3:30 p.m. | 12:30 p.m. | Round Robin | Sportsnet | Canada: Sportsnet+ International: gsoclive.com | |
| 7:30 p.m. | 4:30 p.m. | Round Robin | Sportsnet West & Sportsnet ONE | Canada: Sportsnet+ International: gsoclive.com | |
| Friday April 12 | 11 a.m. | 8 a.m. | Round Robin | Sportsnet | Canada: Sportsnet+ International: gsoclive.com |
| 3 p.m. | 12 p.m. | Round Robin | Sportsnet | Canada: Sportsnet+ International: gsoclive.com | |
| 7 p.m. | 4 p.m. | Round Robin | Sportsnet ONE | Canada: Sportsnet+ International: gsoclive.com | |
| Saturday April 13 | 11:30 a.m. | 8:30 a.m. | Tiebreakers (if nec.) or Quarterfinals | Sportsnet | Canada: Sportsnet+ International: gsoclive.com |
| 3:30 p.m. | 12:30 p.m. | Quarterfinals | Sportsnet ONE | Canada: Sportsnet+ International: gsoclive.com | |
| 7:30 p.m. | 4:30 p.m. | Semifinals | Sportsnet ONE | Canada: Sportsnet+ International: gsoclive.com | |
| Sunday April 14 | 10 a.m. | 7 a.m. | Women’s Final | Sportsnet | Canada: Sportsnet+ International: gsoclive.com |
| 2:30 p.m. | 11:30 a.m. | Men’s Final | Sportsnet 360 | Canada: Sportsnet+ International: gsoclive.com |
Note: Broadcast schedule subject to change. Please visit sportsnet.ca/schedule for the most up-to-date schedule.
