News Masters

TRURO, N.S. — Reigning Brier champion Pat Simmons won his Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season debut with a 7-3 victory over Shawn Adams in the opening draw of the Masters on Tuesday night. 

Simmons has his Calgary-based crew were absent from the past three events in the series. The team did not qualify for the Syncrude Elite 10 and the Players’ Championship last season and skipped last month’s season-opening Tour Challenge.

Lead Nolan Thiessen said they love competing in these events and it’s great to be back. 

“It’s the best teams, it’s amazing ice, and it’s a true test of where you’re at as a team so we were excited to get out here and really see where we’re at,” Thiessen said. “Hopefully we can win a few games at the Slams unlike last year so we can stick around for the whole year.” 

Adams, from Halifax, took a 2-1 lead in the second with a deuce in the second. Simmons rebounded grabbing a point in the third and stole one in the fourth to go up by one at the break. Adams got one in the fifth to tie it back up, but Simmons countered with a single in six, stole a point in seven and swiped two more in the eighth. 

“They made a couple of really good ones to force us, then made a nice shot and they got a deuce there,” Thiessen said. “We struggled a little bit early there but kept plugging away and found a way to make a few more shots in the second half and get the win.” 

Team Simmons plan to donate a portion of their Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling prize money this season to Wounded Warriors Canada.

Elsewhere in men’s action, Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., scored a 4-2 victory over Toronto’s John Epping. Gushue, who has won four titles on tour this season, was forced to a single in the second to open the scoring but doubled his lead stealing a point in the third. Epping was held to one in the fourth, Gushue countered in five and stole again in six to extend his lead to 4-1. Epping grabbed another single in seven. 

Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland held on for a 7-6 win over Margaretha Sigfridsson of Sweden. The Tour Challenge Tier 1 women’s champion Tirizoni erased a three-point deficit and jumped ahead scoring four in the third, stealing two in the fourth and one in the fifth to lead 7-3. Sigfridsson almost came back with a point in six and single steals in seven and eight.

Kerri Einarson of East St. Paul, Man., stunned Scotland’s Eve Muirhead with a 7-6 victory. Einarson, who qualified for the event by winning the Tour Challenge Tier 2, trailed 3-0 after two ends and rallied with a deuce in three and a steal of two in four. Muirhead, the reigning Rogers Grand Slam Cup champion, was held to one in the fifth and Einarson added a three-ender in six to regain the lead 7-4. Team Muirhead got points in seven and eight but Einarson prevailed.

Halifax’s Mary-Anne Arsenault scored one in the seventh and stole a point in eight for a 5-3 win over Anna Sidorova of Russia.

NOTES: The Masters is the second stop on the seven-event 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule and runs through to Sunday at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre. … Action continues Wednesday morning with Draw 2 starting at 8:30 a.m. AT. … TV coverage of the Masters begins Thursday at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT on Sportsnet.