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SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — Some familiar faces and some new blood shined the brightest during the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling National tournament this past weekend.

While Mike McEwen stole the show winning the title with a 5-2 victory over Brad Jacobs in the final, let’s take a look at who else grabbed the spotlight in the Soo.

Bottcher’s big break

Team Brendan Bottcher is no longer under-the-radar on the World Curling Tour. The Edmonton rink of Bottcher, Tom Appelman, Bradley Thiessen and Karrick Martin went on a remarkable run through the National, finishing the round robin with a 4-1 record and qualifying at a Grand Slam event for the first time in their careers.

Curling fans are no strangers to Bottcher, who sports an impressive resume already by having captured a Canadian university (CIS) title and skipping Team Canada to gold at the world junior championships in 2012. Martin, who plays lead on the team, couldn’t stay hidden regardless as he’s son of 18-time Grand Slam winner Kevin Martin.

It wasn’t an easy path to the playoffs either as Bottcher earned well-fought victories over the likes of Masters champion Brad Gushue, 7-4, and two-time Brier winner Kevin Koe, 6-4. Bottcher played Reid Carruthers in their final round robin game, a match that aired nationally on Sportsnet between two 4-0 rinks. Carruthers came out on top 9-2 but Bottcher bounced right back in the quarterfinals.

Bottcher faced John Morris in the first round of the playoffs and capitalized with steals to score an impressive 7-1 victory over the Team Canada squad that set up a match against Sochi Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs with a chance to reach the final.

Jacobs pulled away to win 8-2 but Team Bottcher should hold their heads up high with no shame losing to the Olympic champs as they reached a new plateau and will continue to develop into one of the top teams on tour.

Steski’s still got it

Loyal readers of our site will already know we warned you prior to the start of the National to watch out for Team Carruthers. What we didn’t expect was a curveball in the weather prevented third Braeden Moskowy from making it to Sault Ste. Marie on time and that could have been a game-breaker.

Have no fear as Grand Slam MC — and super spare — Pete Steski stepped in as Carruthers adjusted his roster with Derek Samagalski and Colin Hodgson moving down in the lineup to allow Steski to throw lead stones. Steski, who last played in a Grand Slam tournament in 2005, slid right in and gelled with the team as they toppled Rob Rumfeldt 6-1 and cruised past Peter de Cruz 9-3.

Mosokowy arrived for the team’s third game and despite having little-to-no prep time, they continued their streak edging Koe 5-4. Further wins over Gushue and Bottcher gave Carruthers an undefeated 5-0 record through the round robin but like Bottcher, a difficult playoff seeding resulted in facing Jacobs in the quarterfinals.

Jacobs prevailed 6-3 to end Carruthers’ run but it was still a strong performance for the Winnipeg rink that just came together this year. Carruthers won the Brier, the worlds and a National title while playing front-end on Team Jeff Stoughton and returned to the skip role after forming this team during the off-season.

As for Steski, he remained the only undefeated player at the National but he almost didn’t get off on the right foot by wearing the wrong shoes. Having said that, with a 2-0 record we have to ask — ala Mars Blackmon — is it the shoes?

I forgot to give a huge shout out to Goldline for stepping up and supplying my shoes for my games yesterday. Lefty & righty. @grandslamcurl

— Pool Commissioner (@xlpurplesweater) November 21, 2014

McCormick drifts into a Grand Slam contender

Heath McCormick heated up during the National and carried his Blaine, Minn., rink — featuring third Christopher Plys, second Joe Polo, lead Ryan Brunt and alternate Colin Hufman — into the semifinals. It was the best performance by a U.S. team at a Grand Slam event and certainly helps them in their quest to represent their country at the worlds.

McCormick, sporting the greatest Movember moustache at the tournament ever, qualified with a 3-2 record in the round robin including stealing a 6-5 victory from U.S. rival John Shuster. McCormick faced Glenn Howard, the top seed in the National playoffs with an unblemished 5-0 record, and stunned the defending champion scoring two in the final end to win 6-5.

The team finally fell to McEwen but didn’t go down without a fight as the eventual champion had to grind out a win with his final shot of the game to secure the 5-2 victory.