Carruthers wins in GSOC return as skip with spare Steski

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers defeated Rob Rumfeldt of Guelph, Ont., 6-1 Thursday morning at the National even though his return to skipping in the Grand Slam of Curling didn’t go exactly as planned.

Carruthers, who won the event in 2013 playing for Jeff Stoughton, branched out on his own this season forming a new squad with third Braeden Moskowy, second Derek Samagalski and lead Colin Hodgson. Moskowy’s scheduled flight into Sault Ste. Marie was cancelled due to snow and forced Carruthers to scrabble and find a spare for the start of the tournament.

Enter Peter Steski, one of the Original 18 skips in the series and now working as the master of ceremonies. Samagalski and Hodgson moved up spots in the lineup to with Steski at lead. Steski had big shoes to fill — once he found the right pair, of course — and shot 80 percent. The Toronto native will play in Carruthers’ second game against Peter de Cruz of Switzerland with Moskowy expected to arrive later Thursday.

Carruthers made quick work of Rumfeldt scoring deuces in the second and fourth ends while stealing a pair of points in the fifth. Rumfeldt was forced to his lone point in three.

Rough start to my @grandslamcurl return but once I got some right handed shoes I found my veteran groove. #smokeandmirrors #didntfall #pidge
— Pool Commissioner (@xlpurplesweater) November 20, 2014

Elsewhere in Draw 2, Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher stunned Masters champion Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., 7-4. Tied 2-2, Bottcher grabbed the lead for good scoring three in the fifth end. Gushue took two in six to close within one, but Bottcher sealed the game with a single in seven followed by a steal of one in eight.

Toronto’s John Epping scored two in the extra end to win 7-5 over Calgary’s Matthew Blandford, Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock topped Calgary’s John Morris 7-2 and Heath McCormick scored a deuce in the sixth and stole single points in three consecutive ends to complete a 6-5 extra-end comeback over John Shuster 6-5 during in an all-American matchup.

National action continues with Draw 3 live on Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific at 12:30 E.T. Round-robin play runs through Friday night with the top eight teams overall qualifying for Saturday’s quarterfinals. The semifinals are also on tap Saturday with the final scheduled Sunday.