Koe beats Carruthers to start HearingLife Tour Challenge run
NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. — Calgary’s Team Kevin Koe fended off Winnipeg’s Team Reid Carruthers 5-4 Tuesday during the second draw of the HearingLife Tour Challenge at the Gale Centre.
It was Team Koe’s first game in the Grand Slam of Curling series with new second Jacques Gauthier, who came on board after Brad Thiessen stepped back from competitive curling following the conclusion of last season.
After giving up a single steal in the second, Koe got on track with a key score of three in the third end and never trailed again.
With Koe leading 4-2, Carruthers closed the gap scoring a single in the sixth and a steal in the seventh. While Koe had to throw heroic last shots during the semifinals and final en route to winning the Princess Auto Players’ Championship last season, he didn’t need to throw his final rock this time. Koe already held the shot stone prior to his last and Carruthers was unable to outcount it leading to early handshakes.
Elsewhere, Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte scored four points in the fifth end during an 8-5 win over Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin.
Team John Shuster from the United States completed a 6-5 comeback victory over Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat. Shuster scored a deuce in the seventh to tie it up and swiped the winning point when Mouat’s last rock in the eighth end rolled heavy.
Italy’s Team Joël Retornaz scored a single in the eighth end to clip Japan’s Team Riku Yanagisawa 5-4.
HEARINGLIFE TOUR CHALLENGE: Scores/Standings | Draw Schedule | Broadcast Schedule
TIER 2 DRAW 2 RESULTS
• Team Strouse 4, Team Anderson 2
• Team Black 6, Team Jaeggi 5
• Team Skrlik 4, Team Inglis 3
• Team Yoshimura 7, Team Hunkin 5
UP NEXT
Draw 3 of the HearingLife Tour Challenge gets underway at 3 p.m. local time. Ticket information is available at thegrandslamofcurling.com/tickets.
Broadcast coverage begins with Draw 10 Thursday at 11:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. PT on Sportsnet and streaming online at Sportsnet+ (Canada) and Yare (international).
NOTES
The HearingLife Tour Challenge is the first Grand Slam of Curling event of the season and features the top 32 men’s teams and 32 women’s teams from around the world in two tiers of action. … Round-robin play runs through to Friday with the top eight teams in each division qualifying for the playoffs. … The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday with the finals set for Sunday.
