News Masters

LLOYDMINSTER, Sask. — Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., recovered to rally back hard in his Draw 5 match Wednesday against John Shuster at the Masters.

Down by four early, the reigning world champion scored three in the fourth, stole two in the fifth and one in the sixth during a 9-7 victory.

Although it wasn’t pretty, Gushue now sports a 2-0 record in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling major tournament.

“We’ve got to be happy with that,” Team Gushue third Mark Nichols said. “Obviously there are a few things we need to work on and get a little bit sharper at leading into the next few games, and hopefully the weekend, but we definitely have to clean some stuff up.”

After Gushue opened with a deuce, Shuster (0-2) took control scoring three in the second and stealing a trio in the third.

The momentum swung back into Gushue’s favour with the three count of his own in the fourth to chip away at the deficit. Back-to-back errand ends by Shuster handed Gushue an 8-6 lead and the teams alternated singles in the final two ends to close things out.

“We played a great first end and got an easy deuce. That three in the second end came out of nowhere and then we didn’t play a very good third and put ourselves behind the 8-ball really early,” Nichols said. “Fortunately for us, we got a few mistakes on their side and we made a few key shots in certain ends to get ourselves back into it. We got a little lucky.”

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Calgary’s Kevin Koe also climbed to 2-0 cruising past former teammate John Morris and his Vernon, B.C., based team 7-1.

“Every win at a Slam these days is tough,” Team Koe third Marc Kennedy said. “You take them when you can get them and we’re in a good spot going into tomorrow. So far, so good.”

Koe counted a couple in the first, three in the fourth and tacked on consecutive single steals in five and six off of misses by fourth Jim Cotter for early handshakes. Morris (0-2) was limited to just a single in the third.

“We’ve had some really good battles with him over the last few years and I think they’ve got the best of us a few times last year,” Kennedy said. “They’re a team we really key up for and John usually plays pretty well against us. A good start, a good deuce in the first, kind of kept control of the game from there. We got some uncharacteristic misses from Jimmy and that was it.”

Team Morris alternate Rick Sawatsky came off of the bench during the game to take over for lead Tyrel Griffith.

Peter de Cruz of Switzerland scored four in the seventh during an 8-3 win over Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock. Both teams are level with 1-1 records.

In women’s play, Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta., impressed again to defeat reigning world champion Rachel Homan of Ottawa 7-5.

Scheidegger jumped out to an early 4-0 lead scoring a deuce in the first and stealing two in the second when Homan hit a guard.

Homan put a pair on the board in the third, held Scheidegger to one in the fourth and added another couple in five to cut the deficit 5-4. Scheidegger was happy to only give up two there as she had to make an incredible triple takeout on her first skip stone to limit the damage.

“As [alternate] Susan O’Connor would say, that was a horrendous end for us but we made a saving shot there with my first one,” Scheidegger said. “Unfortunately, the second one was a little heavy and just didn’t get the curl that we anticipated, but we stayed tough out there and were able to pull another one off.”

Scheidegger, who won the Meridian Canadian Open last season, matched with another deuce in six and forced Homan to a single in seven to lead by two coming home with the hammer. Needing to steal in the eighth to force an extra end, Homan attempted a split on a guard with her last but didn’t get them both in and shook hands.

“We got away lucky a couple times in that one but I think we stay strong and played well,” Scheidegger said. “The ice was a little different than yesterday, but we read it well, so that’s always an advantage.”

Homan, a three-time Masters title winner, fell to a 0-2 record and must win out to stay in contention. Scheidegger beat Edmonton’s Val Sweeting 6-4 in Tuesday’s opening draw.

“I know coming into this one we were like, oh we’ve got a hard pool,” Scheidegger said with a smile. “It’s obviously a really big confidence booster and we’re just hoping we can keep playing as well as we are.”

Scotland’s Eve Muirhead (2-0) earned her second extra-end victory edging Team Flaxey of Caledon, Ont., 7-6. With skip Allison Flaxey arriving later, third Clancy Grandy called the shots for Team Flaxey (0-1) while alternate Alison Kreviazuk, who won two Masters titles with Team Homan, played third.

Muirhead clipped Russia’s Anna Sidorova 6-5 in OT during the morning draw.

Round-robin play continues at 7:30 p.m. MT.

NOTES: The Masters is the second event and first major of the 2017-18 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. … Round-robin action runs through to Friday with the quarterfinals and semifinals Saturday and finals set for Sunday. … TV coverage begins Thursday at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sportsnet and online at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) or gsoc.yaretv.com (international).