Gushue, Scheidegger win Canadian Open titles
NORTH BATTLEFORD, Sask. — Casey Scheidegger could only watch last year’s Canadian Open. This year she’s the women’s champion.
Scheidegger, from Lethbridge, Alta., downed Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni 5-4 on Sunday in the Open final to win the title in her Grand Slam of Curling debut.
Scheidegger, third Cary-Anne McTaggart, second Jessie Scheidegger and lead Stephanie Enright trailed 4-3 through six ends, but grabbed one in the seventh and stole another in the eighth to capture the championship and hand the Swiss skip her first defeat at the triple-knockout tournament. “We’re just so excited,” said Scheidegger. “There isn’t much more to say, it was awesome. We’re a little bit shocked, but that’s curling.
“Sometimes you get the breaks, and we managed to do that,” she added. “We played well all week, so I can’t ask for anything more.”
Tirinzoni had won five draws in a row to reach the final through the A-Bracket, while Scheidegger nearly had her tournament come to an end on Friday after starting 1-2.
Scheidegger kept herself alive with a 7-4 win on Friday night against Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson in the C-Bracket. Then she pulled off a 9-4 victory against Edmonton’s Kelsey Roque Saturday morning to make the playoffs and downed Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones 6-5 in the quarter-finals to reach the semifinals, where she beat Edmonton’s Val Sweeting 7-3.
Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., threw a perfect 100 per cent in the men’s final earlier Sunday to defeat Sweden’s Niklas Edin 8-3 and capture his seventh career Grand Slam of Curling title.
Gushue made a draw with his last rock in the sixth end to score a three count with Edin on the ropes.
The seventh was more of a victory lap for Gushue, and Edin made a spin-o-rama with his last before they shook hands.
It’s a personal triumph for Gushue, who missed eight curling events this season with an ongoing hip/groin injury.
“The credit goes to this group,” said Gushue. “We work well together, the guys are really skilled and you saw that when I was gone how good they were.
“With me back in the lineup, I think we’re an even better team. I like our chances any time we go out on the ice and when we’re playing well and playing confident like we are, especially over the last two or three days, we’re a pretty good team.”
Edin qualified for the playoffs through the A-Bracket of the triple knockout at 3-0. Wins over Brendan Bottcher in the quarter-finals and John Morris in the semis carried him to the championship final. Morris is skipping a rink out of Vernon. Gushue (3-1) went through the B-side with a loss to Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie in the A-semifinals.
Scheidegger and Gushue both take home $30,000 and qualify for the Champions Cup, the final Grand Slam event of the season.