News Champions Cup

SHERWOOD PARK, Alta. — Pat Simmons and his Calgary crew will play for at least one more day at the Humpty’s Champions Cup.

Simmons stole two points in the eighth end to defeat Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock 6-4 Friday night and secure a spot in Saturday morning’s tiebreaker draw.

The two-time Brier champion Simmons finished pool play with a 2-2 record and will take on Scotland’s David Murdoch.

“It was a crazy game,” Simmons said. “Not the way we wanted it to finish. It was a mental struggle. We had a tough time with our rocks and I have no explanation for some of the things that happened. Anyway, we hung tough and that’s all you can say. It’ll definitely be a long day (tomorrow) but it’s better than not playing.”

It was a bizarre finish as Team Simmons sweeper Tom Sallows touched their last rock with his brush. Although Laycock could have removed the stone, he opted to keep it in play and needed to draw to the four-foot circle for the winning single while facing two counters. Unfortunately for Laycock, he came up light.

The game was also emotional as it could’ve been the end for Team Simmons with Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen both stepping back from competitive curling following the season finale event.

Laycock (2-2) dropped into the tiebreaker and will face reigning world junior champion Bruce Mouat of Scotland. 

Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen completed an undefeated run through round-robin play defeating Murdoch 6-3. McEwen (4-0) broke a 3-3 tie with a three-ender in the seventh.

Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., doubled up on Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers 6-3. Both teams are through to the quarterfinals with identical 3-1 records. 

Peter de Cruz of Switzerland cruised into the tiebreakers with a 7-2 win over Mick Lizmore. De Cruz (2-2) will play Niklas Edin of Sweden for a playoff spot. Lizmore heads home at 1-3.

In the women’s division tiebreaker, Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland edged Satsuki Fujisawa of Japan 7-6 to advance to the quarterfinals. The Tour Challenge Tier 1 winner Tirinzoni will take on Japan’s Ayumi Ogasawara. 

NOTES: The Humpty’s Champions Cup is the seventh and final event of the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season and runs through to Sunday at the Sherwood Park Arena Sports Centre. … Teams had to win a high-profile tour event over the course of the season to qualify. … The event is the second of two new tournaments added to the schedule this year along with the Tour Challenge, which kicked off the season in September.