News Masters

NORTH BAY, Ont. — Calgary’s Team Kevin Koe downed Team Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont., 8-4 during round-robin play of the Masters on Wednesday afternoon at Memorial Gardens.

Both teams have super spares this week. Kirk Muyres is filling in for Team Koe third B.J. Neufeld, who is on pat leave with his wife expecting a baby. Meanwhile, Scott Howard has moved up from third to skip with his dad Glenn away. Adam Spencer is subbing at vice.

Muyres said it’s fun getting the opportunity to play alongside the four-time Brier champion Koe.

“Obviously we played pretty good out there but it’s nice being in the presence of a guy like Kevin, learn from him and seeing how he goes about his business,” Muyres said. “We got the win, played well, felt it out and like I said, learned some stuff from one of the best in the world.”

Muyres, who won the Canadian junior title and competed for Saskatchewan at a few Briers with second Colton Flasch, is enjoying the reunion with his old teammate as well as playing with fun guy Ben Hebert at lead.

“It’s nice not being on the other side of the fence of Benny Heebz because it’s not fun playing against him, so it’s nice playing with him,” Muyres said with a smile. “It’s obviously nice to play with Flasch again. It’s kind of like we haven’t missed a step out there, we’re shooting back and forth and working off of each other as we’re making shots throughout the game. It’s kind of like it was a few years ago so it’s fun to do that as well.”

Koe cracked a 2-2 tie game in the fourth end with an open hit for three points. Howard responded drawing for a deuce in the fifth and forced Koe to a single in the sixth, but faced a couple of counters in the seventh and gave up the double steal as his shooter rubbed and rolled off the pair.

“I think we just did a really good job of learning the ice,” Muyres explained. “We talked about it. We kind of monitored how the ice was flowing and made a couple of big shots when we needed to and that set the tone.”

WATCH: @JonathanBrazeau catches up with super spare @kirkmuyres after @TeamKevinKoe’s 8-4 win over Team Howard. #MastersGSOC #curling pic.twitter.com/pTqTWGbgbm

— Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling (@grandslamcurl) October 23, 2019

Elsewhere, Scotland’s Team Ross Paterson beat defending champions Team John Epping of Toronto 6-4.

Winnipeg’s Team Mike McEwen bounced back to beat Team Niklas Edin of Sweden 8-4. McEwen levelled his record to 1-1 after dropping an 11-4 decision to Edmonton’s Team Brendan Bottcher in Tuesday’s opener.

In women’s play, Team Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., toppled Edmonton’s Team Kelsey Rocque 9-3.

After Rocque settled for a single in the first, Einarson took complete control with a three-ender in the second followed by back-to-back single steals in the third and fourth and put the exclamation mark on the match swiping four in the fifth. Rocque scored a deuce in the sixth and shook hands.

“It feels good,” Einarson said. “We came out strong and put lots of pressure on them. It’s nice to get the first win.”

Einarson opened the season winning back-to-back tour events in Edmonton and Calgary for a brief one-week stay at the top of the World Curling Tour’s Order of Merit rankings.

“We started our season off a little later than everyone else,” said Einarson, who is now No. 2 in the world behind Ottawa’s Team Rachel Homan. “We played lots last year so it was nice to have a little bit of extra time to spend with friends and family.”

Team Casey Scheidegger, of Lethbridge, Alta., earned a 6-4 victory over Team Robyn Silvernagle of North Battleford, Sask. Scheidegger is not playing as she’s expecting her second child shortly and Regina’s Amber Holland got the call this week to skip.

The Masters action continues at 4 p.m. ET.

Broadcast coverage begins Thursday at Noon ET on Sportsnet with online streaming available via Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).

NOTES: The Masters is the first of six Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling events on the season and one of four majors in the series. … The total prize purse is $300,000 and is split evenly between the men’s and women’s divisions. Winners receive the lion’s share plus berths towards the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup taking place April 29 to May 3, 2020, in Olds, Alta. … Also up for grabs at the Masters are Pinty’s Cup bonus points. The leaders following the conclusion of the Players’ Championship in April will capture the Pinty’s Cup with additional prize money awarded.