News National

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — Bruce Mouat has advanced to the playoffs in a Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tournament for the first time at the BOOST National.

The 23-year-old from Edinburgh, Scotland, stymied Brad Jacobs 8-5 during Friday night’s tiebreaker stage to upset and oust the hometown hero and defending champion.

Jacobs went through a tiebreaker to win the BOOST National title last season but it wasn’t a case of deja vu in the Essar Centre. Mouat advances to Saturday’s quarterfinals against Calgary’s Kevin Koe (watch on Sportsnet ONE at 5 p.m. ET).

“It feels awesome,” Mouat said with a smile. “We were hoping for a playoff spot at the start of the week and managed to get one. I’m really excited to play tomorrow. Kevin Koe is another great team that’s only going to give us more experience.”

The 2016 world junior gold medallist Mouat covered the pin in the pre-game draw for the hammer and raced out of the gate during a bizarre first end mired by a bunch of burned rocks and a mess of granite in the house. Mouat emerged with a three-ender though by making a double bump and stayed one step ahead of the reigning Olympic champion.

“I’ve never really seen anything like that,” Mouat said. “I was just kind of looking a bit perplexed but didn’t know what was happening. These things happen and we managed to refocus and obviously got the three so it was a good start.”

Although the crowd was overwhelmingly in support of Jacobs, you can always count on curling fans to cheer for good shots regardless and gave Mouat some praise during the match.

“I kind of expected it to be a bit one-sided obviously but as soon as we managed to get focused on the game, we set up a really good end in the first and took a three,” Mouat said. “It sounded like the crowd was clapping some of ours as well, which was nice. It’s always really cool to play in Canada against home favourites like Brad and his team. The crowd was really good and we just kind of soaked up the atmosphere.”

Jacobs replied with a deuce in the second to get on the board. Looking at two counters with no chance for a double in three, Mouat drew for just a single and went up 4-2.

Mouat froze on top of Jacobs’ shot stone to try and force him to a single in four. Jacobs went for it anyway on his last, but chipped off of Mouat’s rock and rolled too far to just get one.

Another three-spot in the fifth extended Mouat’s lead to 7-4.

“We didn’t really set up a great end in that end but a couple misses from Brad and we managed to secure the three,” Mouat said. “I’m really happy to get that jump on the leaderboard and come home with the win.”

Jacobs aimed at angle-raising for a bunch in the sixth but jammed it and only took two.

Facing a couple counters again in seven, Mouat drew for just one to concede the hammer coming home.

It looked like the door was open for Jacobs to rally in eight when Team Mouat third Grant Hardie misfired ticking off a guard and then hitting one of their own stones out of the rings. Mouat regrouped and slammed the metaphorical door shut on his first skip stone with a double takeout to leave Jacobs with just one exposed in the house and nowhere left to hide. That led to an open hit by Mouat on his last to run Jacobs out of rocks.

“We knew that if we ripped both the guards with Grant and then I would have to make one double or have two chances at a double,” Mouat said. “Luckily, I had a half stone, which I played earlier in I think the sixth end or whatever. We knew the ice and I played the exact same shot so we made it good there as well.”

Meanwhile, Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen also made it through to the quarterfinals eliminating Greg Balsdon of Kingston, Ont., 9-2.

McEwen, who fell to Balsdon in the previous draw to set up the tiebreaker rematch, bounced back in take two.

“It’s tough to beat a team twice,” McEwen said. “When you’re playing a good team it’s tough to beat anybody two times in a row. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t beat us in the tiebreaks.”

“It was much better,” he added. “We’re making the shots instead of the other game where we’re missing them by half an inch here or there and we’re a little bit sharper and more focused this time around.”

The six-time Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title winner McEwen had Balsdon on the run the whole game scoring a deuce in the first and pilfering points in three and four to lead 4-0 at the break.

Balsdon put two on the board in the fifth but McEwen sent the contest to bed early with a five-count in six.

“I did have a shot in the other game to go up 3-1 and a couple of steals piled up. The game got away from us a little bit,” McEwen said. “This time it was the opposite. We got a really good two to get the lead and then got a couple of steals on them, so it was a complete reversal of how the first game went. Then we just managed to apply a ton of pressure.

“The sixth end, with the scoreboard the way it was, they were going hard for a steal. We just kept making some pretty good draws and little rolls and piled every single rock in there. We got fortunate they didn’t really have any good angles and he had a very difficult shot on his last one just to maybe pull something out of the fire. It was debatable, it might have only reduced damage and that was it.”

McEwen captured the National championship at the Essar Centre in 2014 and now meets Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., in the quarterfinals.

“The building’s great, the fans have been great and it’s a nice curling community to play in,” McEwen said. “They obviously have a great team in the city to support so that always brings extra fans out. We love playing here.”

John Epping earned the last playoff spot knocking out Pat Simmons 7-5. The three-time Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title winner Epping takes on top-seed Jason Gunnlaugson of Winnipeg in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Epping squeezed into the tiebreakers during the morning draw handing Chang-Min Kim of South Korea his first loss of the tournament and got the ball rolling.

“We had a bit of momentum after this morning,” Epping said. “We played one of the best games we probably played all year, pretty sharp. We were really sharp again tonight and it showed on the scoreboard. Of course, we knew Team Simmons would battle hard. Those young kids have more energy than I do. We just played really, really well tonight and just felt good. It felt like we controlled the game.”

After Simmons settled for a single to start, the teams battled back and forth trading pairs of points in two and three. The Toronto native Epping pulled ahead with another deuce in four and stole one in five to hold a 5-3 lead. Simmons got another lone one in six and stole in seven to tie it heading into the final frame. Epping made no mistake with his last in eight to take out Simmons’ shot stone and tack on two.

With the Olympic Trials looming in a few weeks, Epping said it was key to reach the playoffs at the BOOST National.

“Another playoff game, another game on arena ice. We’re going to be doing that in two weeks and it’s just more games and feeling good,” Epping said. “It’s just nice to play well. That’s all you want to do to during the week of the Trials is play well because other teams could be playing fantastic and beat you so we just want to go in and play well that week.”

The two-time Brier champion Simmons, a native of Moose Jaw, Sask., joined the Winnipeg-based trio of Colton Lott, Kyle Doering and Rob Gordon this season. The three captured the Canadian junior title and world junior bronze medal in 2016 with Matt Dunstone.

Kim clashes with Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers in the fourth and final quarterfinal bout.

There were no tiebreakers on the women’s side with exactly eight teams remaining in contention.

Top-seed Tracy Fleury (4-0) of Sudbury, Ont., goes up against Switzerland’s Binia Feltscher (2-2) of Switzerland, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan faces Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta. (both 3-1), Edmonton’s Val Sweeting (4-0) clashes with Calgary’s Chelsea Carey (2-2) and Winnipeg’ Jennifer Jones (4-0) plays Switzerland’s Alina Paetz (2-2). Watch Saturday on CBC at 1 p.m. ET with Homan versus Scheidegger as the featured game.

The men’s and women’s semifinals are set for Saturday at 9 p.m. ET on Sportsnet ONE. Watch all three draws online at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) or gsoc.yaretv.com (international).

The BOOST National is the third event and second major of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season.