News Champions Cup

It’s time to say so long to the 2017-18 campaign and the end of the quadrennial with the Humpty’s Champions Cup.

The season finale Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling events runs April 24-29 at Calgary’s WinSport Arena and features 15 men’s teams and 15 women’s teams who have won tournaments over the course of the season.

Calgary’s own Kevin Koe, fresh off of winning the Players’ Championship, begins the contest clashing with Winnipeg’s Jason Gunnlaugson. Players’ Championship women’s winner Jamie Sinclair, who made history as the first American Grand Slam champ, is also in action opening night facing Olympic gold medallist Anna Hasselborg of Sweden.

Chelsea Carey of Calgary collides with Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa, Scotland’s Eve Muirhead meets Delia DeJong of Grande Prairie, Alta., and Saskatoon’s Colton Flasch faces Marc Pfister of Switzerland to round out the first draw.

Round-robin action runs through to Friday with teams split into three pools and the top eight overall qualifying for the weekend playoffs.

You don’t want to miss the Humpty’s Champions Cup as this will be the final event for several teams that are shuffling their rosters next season for the new Olympic cycle. For some players, this will also be their final event for a while as they plan to take a break or step back from competitive curling.

Full-event and weekend passes plus single-draw tickets are available at Ticketmaster.ca. Can’t make it to Calgary? Television coverage begins April 26 at 2 p.m. ET on Sportsnet with online streaming available at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare TV (international).

NOTE: Draw schedule subject to change.