News Champions Cup

SHERWOOD PARK, Alta. — Edmonton’s Val Sweeting soared to a 2-1 record at the Humpty’s Champions Cup following a 10-0 shutout rout over Satsuki Fujisawa of Japan during Draw 8 Thursday.

The Sweeting Nation was in full force at the Sherwood Park Arena Sports Centre as the crowd roared for every big shot by Sweeting, third Lori Olson-Johns, second Dana Ferguson, and lead Rachel Brown in their backyard Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event. 

“The crowd’s amazing when it’s on your side,” Sweeting said. “It picks you up even more and it’s just so motivating. We love having people in the stands cheering for us. It’s an incredible feeling.”

Sweeting blanked the first two ends and her patience paid off in the third drawing for five points. The world silver medallist Fujisawa (2-1) struggled again in the fourth giving up three and shook hands after her last in the fifth flashed through the house as Sweeting swiped two more points.

“We kept it open the first end. The second end we were a little bit confused on draw weight and the certain path,” Sweeting explained. “We were playing paths we didn’t normally play so it was kind of a guess and that’s normal for the second end but Lori made some great doubles and got us out of it and we blanked it out.

“Then we got a couple breaks our way in the third end there and we capitalized and put ours in good spots then we just held on for the end there. But it could have went either way, a great shot here or there. We felt really good after that. We didn’t make too many mistakes and the girls played really well and made my job pretty easy out there.”

Meanwhile, Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland scored an 8-6 win over Scotties winner Chelsea Carey of Calgary. Both teams hold 1-2 records with one game remaining in round-robin play each. 

In the men’s division, Toronto’s John Epping earned a 9-7 win over David Murdoch of Scotland. Both teams are at 2-1.

Murdoch opened with the hammer and made a double for a deuce in the first end. Epping bounced back in the second end with a hit that rolled but spun back to grab a piece of the paint to count for three. Murdoch took two in the third and Epping matched with a pair in four. Murdoch was forced to a draw for a single in the fifth end and landed on the lid. Epping counted another three-ender in six and Murdoch took two in seven. Epping held the hammer coming home and punched out Murdoch’s rock to add another single. 

Elsewhere, Calgary’s Pat Simmons (1-1) took a 5-1 victory over Peter de Cruz (1-2) of Switzerland. Simmons scored deuces in the second and fourth ends and added a steal of one in the sixth while holding de Cruz to a single in three. 

Team Simmons is playing in their final event together with Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen stepping back from competitive curling. John Morris is out with an injury and Tom Salllows is subbing in. 

American Brady Clark (1-2) stayed in the mix earning an 8-5 win over Saskatoon’s Shaun Meachem, who has been eliminated from playoff contention with a 0-3 record.

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. … 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. … Teams had to win an event over the course of the season in order to qualify for the Humpty’s Champions Cup.