News Masters

TRURO, N.S. — The playoff picture is shaping up at the Masters with Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., and Kevin Koe of Calgary climbing to 3-0 records Thursday night to qualify.

Gushue defeated Niklas Edin of Sweden and Koe took down Halifax’s Shawn Adams by identical 6-2 scores.

Both Gushue and Koe have one round-robin game remaining Friday as final tune-ups heading into Saturday’s quarterfinals.

“It was a good win for us and clinches a playoff spot, which is what we want,” Gushue added. “Tomorrow we can just see if we can get first place out of it.”

Tied 1-1, Gushue ran into a bit of trouble in the fourth after Edin made a perfect freeze. Gushue opted to throw away his last to give up the steal of one, and the lead, rather than attempt a shot and risk giving up more. Gushue charged back with an open hit for two in the fifth end to pull ahead 3-2. Edin (2-1) looked to make another nifty throw when he attempted an angle raise for three in the sixth, but he missed Gushue’s shot rock completely for a steal of one. Gushue swiped two more points in seven to bring out the handshakes. 

“Niklas was making a bunch of shots against us in the first four ends and we just hung in there and put a lot of pressure on him,” Gushue said. “He had a lot of tough shots in the sixth and seventh for sure. We kind of dodged a bullet … and I was just expecting him to make it. We were hoping the shooter would roll out and he’d only get two, but fortunately for us, he missed it altogether and we got the steal.

“That was the big turning point. After that, we felt pretty comfortable. Even if we gave him two in seven we’d have the hammer coming home and fortunately, we stole another two.” 

Meanwhile, Koe curled a perfect 100 percent in his win over the sponsor’s exemption Adams (0-3). Koe got one in the first and stole points in two and three to roll out to a 3-0 lead. Koe added a deuce in five and another point in seven while limiting Adams to singles in four and six. 

Reigning Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., doubled up on Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher 6-3. Jacobs now holds a 2-1 record while Bottcher fell to 1-2. 

In the women’s division, Halifax’s Mary-Anne Arsenault stole singles in the final three ends to complete a 4-3 victory over Alina Paetz (0-3) and knock out the reigning world champion from Switzerland from playoff contention. Arsenault, who earned the women’s division sponsor’s exemption, improved to a 2-1 record to stay in the mix. 

Switzerland’s Binia Feltscher (1-2) scored two in the final end to earn her first win of the Masters with a 6-5 victory over Scotland’s Eve Muirhead (1-2). 

The Masters is the second stop on the seven-event 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule and runs through to Sunday at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre.