News Elite 10

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen and Niklas Edin of Sweden will meet for the Syncrude Elite 10 title after winning their semifinal matches Saturday night.

McEwen rolled past Calgary’s Kevin Koe 3-and-2 while Edin edged reigning Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., 1-up to advance to Sunday’s championship game.

The team of McEwen, third B.J. Neufeld, second Matt Wozniak and lead Denni Neufeld reached their third Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling final of the season through four events. McEwen fell to Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., in the Masters final in early November and defeated Jacobs to capture the National title two weeks later.

The non-major Syncrude Elite 10 tournament uses match play rules. Teams compete to win the most ends by either scoring two or more points (with hammer) or steal at least one point (without hammer). A blank results in loss of hammer similar to a skins game, however, the unclaimed point does not carry over to the next end.

“We were grinding early in this event,” Wozniak said. “It wasn’t coming easy for us, we were struggling with ice and the rocks and the format is different so it was a little taxing but we kind of put it all together today firing on all cylinders now finally. Mike is playing great, which is what you need in this format. If your skip is making his shots, you’re going to do well.” 

McEwen, who curled a perfect 100 percent in the semifinals, took the opening end and stole the second and third for an early 3-up advantage as Koe struggled. Following back-to-back pushes in four and five, McEwen stole one more in six to secure the victory.

Meanwhile, Edin came out on top in a back-and-forth battle against Jacobs that had the crowd roaring after every end. Edin stole the first to jump out 1-up but Jacobs charged right back to score in the second and make it all square. Edin made an amazing shot to get the deuce in three and pull back into the lead, but Jacobs matched again in the fourth to keep pace.

After pushes in five and six, Edin squeezed his final shot through the port and made the gentle tap to count two in the seventh. 

“That was probably one of the better shots I’ve made in my life,” Edin said. “It’s usually a long runback or something like that but that tap was delicate. On this kind of ice, the ice is so good once you try it. I missed the first and pretty much knew how to play it and I felt right away it could be close and needed to curl but when I made that it was such a satisfaction actually to make that it was probably one of the best moments in a Slam I’ve experienced.”

Edin made an open hit takeout with his final shot in eight to run Jacobs out of rocks and preserve the victory.

“We knew we were going to have to take all the chances we got and make a lot of shots especially late in the end,” Edin said. “They have such a strong lineup, especially the back end they can make every shot. We knew we weren’t going to outplay them. As a team they’re too strong for that and have played so good on this ice. We knew we needed to get some good positions and rocks in play and then make some pistols at the end. Fortunately, we did just that and managed to squeak out the win.” 

Team Edin also features Oskar Eriksson, Kristian Lindstroem and Christoffer Sundgren. The foursome struggled early in the tournament posting a 0-2 record at the start but have caught fire winning five straight. Edin is looking forward to a rematch against McEwen after losing in the final of the Pomeroy Inn & Suites Prairie Showdown in Grande Prairie, Alta., last week.

“It’s a different format now,” Edin said. “In Grande Prairie, I didn’t even think we could win, I didn’t even want to win because they were so much better. Back then we made a lot of mistakes and we were happy with the final.

“This time is different. We’ve played really well the last three, four games to get to the final so we’re going to try and do the same as here, try and give ourselves a chance to make big shots and if we can keep the game close anything can happen.” 

Edin, the 2014 Sochi Olympics bronze medallist, is off to his first Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling final since the 2011 Players’ Championship and his first with Eriksson, Lindstroem and Sundgren.

Watch the Syncrude Elite 10 final Sunday at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT on CBC.