The Grand Slam of Curling season got underway with a brand
new event – The Tour Challenge – in Paradise NL. By all accounts, the event was a sellout
every draw and curling fans were treated to some great early season curling with
some tough frosty ice conditions and fog issues!
This event was a new format with a Tier 1 section that had
the top 15 men’s and women’s teams, and a Tier 2 section with invited teams
across the country, including 5 local men’s and women’s teams. The winners of the men’s and women’s Tier 2
event would be invited to the next GSOC event, which is the Masters in Truro NS
Hardline was well represented with no less than 13 teams
participating, including 9 teams playing the Tier 1 event.
The event marked the debut of Mike McEwen. It was the first time on the ice for this
year for the # 1 team in the world and the team that won 8 events last year. Team McEwen went 3-1 in the round robin and
qualified for playoffs!
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| Mike McEwen (Photo by Anil Mungal - GSOC) |
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| Matt Wozniak & Denni Neufeld share a laugh! (Photo by Anil Mungal - GSOC) |
Reid Carruthers had a great round robin at 4-0 and qualified
for playoffs.
John Shuster of the USA also qualified for playoffs at
2-2.
Hometown favorites Brad Gushue finished the round robin at
3-1 and also qualified for playoffs. So
4 of the 8 men’s playoff teams play Hardline and the icePad!
In quarter final action, a Hardline battle featured the 4-0
Carruthers team vs 2-2 Shuster. In a
close game, Shuster broke the game open with a 3 in the 6th end and
went on to win 6-4. Brad Gushue won a
close game over Glenn Howard 4-2, and Mike McEwen defeated Brad Jacobs
6-1. So for the 2nd week in a
row, 3 of the 4 semi finalists were icePad teams!
In one semi, John Shuster ran into a tough Kevin Koe and was
beaten 9-2. In the other semi, Brad Gushue
faced Mike McEwen in a tight battle.
Tied 3-3 after 6 ends, Brad Gushue scored an important deuce in 7 to go
ahead 5-3, and when McEwen couldn’t score his 2 in 8th, Gushue was
off to the finals to face Koe.
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| Team Gushue celebrate a win! (Photo by Anil Mungal - GSOC) |
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| Brad Gushue (Photo by Anil Mungal - GSOC) |
The hometown NFLD crowd was definitely behind Brad Gushue
the whole way, and the final game was a back and forth affair. It seemed every time Team Gushue would gain
an advantage in an end, Koe saved his team by making some great shots including
a beautiful draw to the button against 4, and a runback double in the 8th
end to hold Gushue to only one point and force the extra end. In the end, Koe had to draw to the 4 foot
against two Gushue counters, and won the game.
