Players’ Championship Live: Morris meets McEwen
TORONTO — The winning streak is still alive for Brad Gushue.
The St. John’s, N.L., native Gushue — who went 13-0 at the world championship — has now won three straight at the WestJet Players’ Championship.
Gushue (3-0) outlasted Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers 7-5 during Draw 7 Thursday.
Gushue, who is also the defending Players’ champ, stole two to start and had Carruthers on the run from there to keep pace.
Carruthers (1-2) matched with a pair in the second, the teams split singles in three and four and alternated deuces in five and six to keep things tight at 5-5.
Gushue counted another couple in seven and Carruthers was unable to maintain the pace to the finish line as his first skip stone in the eighth hit and rolled out to leave him without any options at forcing an extra end.
Meanwhile, Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen improved to a 2-1 record with a 9-4 win over John Morris of Vernon, B.C.
Team Morris fourth Jim Cotter left his last open and McEwen pounced on the opportunity to pop it on the nose and score three. Cotter’s last draw in the second needed to stop at the back of the eight-foot circle or risk a steal and hit the brakes just in time for a single.
McEwen already had shot rock in three prior to his last and drew in for his second point to get a four-point advantage. Cotter drew for one in the fourth end as well and landed on the button while facing two counters. Looking to add to his total in five, McEwen made a hit but rolled just a tad too far and a measurement gave Morris the steal of one.
Morris stole again in six sitting three counters within the four-foot circle and McEwen made two go to limit the damage. That narrowed the gap to 5-4, but was as close as Morris would get. McEwen bounced back in seven to add some space on the scoreboard as he sat shot and nudged in another stone to score two.
Cotter had a triple to score three in the eighth to tie it, but his shooter went straight through the port untouched.
Morris dropped to a 0-3 record and needs to win from here as a fourth loss will automatically eliminate his team, which is chasing an Olympic Trials spot based on points. Catlin Schneider is subbing for Rick Sawatsky and is playing second with Tyrel Griffith sliding over to throw lead stones.
Calgary’s Kevin Koe climbed to a 2-1 record with a 7-2 win over Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher in a Battle of Alberta. Bottcher dropped to 1-2. Scott Pfeifer is in the Team Koe lineup again for injured lead Ben Hebert.
China’s Bingyu Wang made the draw in the extra end to edge Allison Flaxey of Caledon, Ont., 4-3. Both teams hold 1-2 records.
Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni (3-0) is guaranteed a spot in the next round after scoring four in the sixth end during an 8-6 win over Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson. Cathy Overton-Clapham is back at third for Team Tirinzoni with Manuela Siegrist still recovering from a knee injury. Sigfridsson dropped to 0-3 and needs to a win in order to avoid elimination.
Round-robin action at the WestJet Players’ Championship continues Thursday at 3:30 p.m. ET with TV coverage on Sportsnet and online at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and gsoc.yaretv.com (international).
NOTES: The WestJet Players’ Championship is the fourth major and sixth event of the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season and runs through to Sunday at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre. … The Rogers Grand Slam Cup will be awarded to the overall season champions following the conclusion of the WestJet Players’ Championship. … Winners of the WestJet Players’ Championship will earn berths to the Humpty’s Champions Cup running April 25-30 in Calgary.
