News Players' Championship

TORONTO — Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., remains undefeated at the Players’ Championship climbing to a 3-0 record.

Gushue, who won his fifth Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title last month at the Elite 10, scored a single in an extra end to defeat Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen 5-4 during Draw 8 Thursday afternoon. 

After blanking the first, Gushue drew for two in the second to get on the board. McEwen (1-2) responded with a deuce of his own in three to tie it. The 2006 Olympic gold medallist Gushue hit and stuck for one in the fourth. McEwen blanked five and tapped for a single in six to knot it up again. The teams alternated singles in seven and eight with McEwen pulling off an angle double raise takeout to force the extra stanza.

McEwen sat two stones with shot rock partially buried, however, Gushue was able to tap it out for the winning single.

Meanwhile, Scotland’s David Murdoch improved to a 3-1 record in bizarre fashion defeating Toronto’s John Epping 6-5 in a rare double extra end. Epping was eliminated from playoff contention at 0-4.

Murdoch held the hammer in the first extra end and fired a runback that not only eliminated both of Epping’s stones from the house but also removed his own with the raised rock spilling out the side as well.

“We weren’t left many options,” Murdoch said. “We could have maybe just stuck it because we were in a lot of trouble but we wanted to make sure that at least we got everything out of there and maybe got an extra extra. Yeah, 10 end games. We didn’t have worlds this year so maybe that’s how we get 10 ends.” 

Take two in the second extra end went better with an open draw for Murdoch, who said he once played three extra ends in junior.

“It’s all good. We’re happy,” Murdoch said. “We’ve had a great season, obviously didn’t get to worlds, and we want to keep playing well and I think that’s what we’re doing.”

Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock (3-1) scored two in the final end to win 5-4 over American John Shuster (1-3).

In women’s division action, defending champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland moved up to a 3-1 record with a 7-4 win over Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones (2-1).

“We enjoy it here, everything’s great,” said Muirhead, who also won her first Players’ Championship title in this rink in 2013. “The hotel’s a two minutes walk, you get to shop in a two minutes walk. Downtown Toronto, so it’s so fantastic. The organizers of the event — Jen, Kristi and Pierre — they do a great job and it’s good fun.” 

Muirhead jumped out to a 5-0 lead scoring a deuce in the first end, stealing two in the third and swiping another point in the fourth. The teams exchanged singles in five and six and Jones counted three in the seventh to close the deficit. Muirhead held the hammer coming home up by two points and made a double takeout with her last to ice the game. 

Muirhead also defeated Edmonton’s Val Sweeting 4-3 earlier Thursday. The team has super spare Cathy Overton-Clapham filling in for Anna Sloan, who will miss the rest of the season due to an ACL injury.

“When we first got the draw and saw one day you have Val and Jenn we knew it would be a really tough day so to come out with two wins I’m really, really pleased,” Muirhead said. “It was a great team performance. All the girls played well. Cathy is fitting in great and playing well out there.”

American Erika Brown (1-2) completed a comeback scoring three in six and stealing singles in seven and eight for an 8-6 win over Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson (2-2).

NOTES: The Players’ Championship is the fourth major and sixth event of the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season and runs through to Sunday at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre. … The Rogers Grand Slam Cup will also be awarded to the overall season champions following the conclusion of the Players’ Championship. Rachel Homan has mathematically clinched the women’s title with the men’s champion to be determined. … Winners of the Players’ Championship earn berths to the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup running April 26 to May 1 in Sherwood Park, Alta.