Gushue dashes out of gate in Pinty’s Cup race
Brad Gushue and his club find themselves in familiar territory at the top of the Pinty’s Cup points leaderboard.
The St. John’s, N.L., crew captured the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season men’s championship last year and picked up right where they left off thanks to a title victory at the Princess Auto Elite 10.
Team Gushue scored 12 points to open the season in Chatham-Kent, Ont., defeating Team Carruthers 1 UP (two ends to one) in Sunday’s men’s final.
Carruthers picked up nine points, semifinalists Team Epping and Team Jacobs earned seven points each and quarterfinalists Team Howard and Team Koe collected five points apiece. Non-playoff teams received one point per round-robin win.
Previously known as the Bonus Cup, teams are awarded additional points based on their finish in Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling events. The top men’s and women’s teams following the conclusion of the Players’ Championship are crowned the Pinty’s Cup champions. The top four teams cash in bonus prize money with the winners banking $75,000.
Sweden’s Team Hasselborg stormed out of the gate to win the inaugural Princess Auto Elite 10 women’s title and lead the standings in that division. Hasselborg topped Team Tirinzoni 4-and-2 (four ends to none in six ends) in the final to finish undefeated at 6-0.
Tirinzoni took nine points while semifinalists Team Jones, who is the defending women’s Pinty’s Cup champion, and Team Homan grabbed seven points. Quarterfinalists Team Scheidegger and Team Walker both get five points while non-playoff teams nab one point per round-robin win.
Visit thegrandslamofcurling.com/curling/2018-19-pintys-cup-standings for the full standings plus more details on the Pinty’s Cup, past champions, plus full profiles on all of the teams in contention.