Middaugh skips Team Bottcher into Players’ semifinals
TORONTO — Wayne Middaugh and Team Bottcher defeated Brad Gushue’s crew 6-4 during Saturday’s Players’ Championship quarterfinals at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Skip Brendan Bottcher had to leave after the round-robin stage and head back home to Edmonton to wrap up university and called upon Middaugh, from Coldwater, Ont., to fill in during the playoffs.
“Poor Brendan had to write his exam today and they needed a player,” Middaugh said. “I happened to be local so I seemed to be the guy they wanted so it was a nice fit. It’s only for the playoffs and it worked out that they needed me. I was actually a little bit nervous because I wanted to play well for them.”
With the game tied 4-4 in the seventh, Gushue, from St. John’s, N.L., hit and rolled too far with his last and Middaugh connected on an open hit to get a deuce for the two-point advantage coming home. Middaugh then nailed a double takeout with his final shot in the eighth to run Gushue out of rocks.
“You’ve got a pretty reasonable shot to win the game,” Middaugh said. “You want to make sure you give it a good chance because it’s a big deal to make that.”
Middaugh, who has won 15 career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling titles, edged former (and future) teammate Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont., 6-4 in the morning tiebreaker. Although Middaugh stepped back from competitive curling this season, he will return to Team Howard at third in the fall.
“It was a bad, tough spot having to play Glenn,” Middaugh said. “That was uncomfortable but as a token you want a team to actually play and I’m going to give 110 percent and we got lucky that Glenn didn’t have his best stuff. Glenn just gave me some opportunities and we took advantage of them.”
Team “Middaottcher” now take on Team Brad Jacobs, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., in the semifinals. The reigning Olympic champions earned a direct bye after finishing the round robin with a 4-1 record to make the top two playoff seeds.
Elsewhere, Toronto’s John Epping made the sold-out hometown crowd happy by advancing with a 6-4 victory over Calgary’s Kevin Koe. Epping plays Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen, who rolled through the round-robin with a perfect 5-0 record.
The women’s semifinals see Ottawa’s Rachel Homan face Eve Muirhead of Scotland and Edmonton’s Val Sweeting takes on Anna Sidorova of Russia.
Both men’s and women’s semifinals start Sunday at 10 a.m. ET.
