CurlingZone: Schwaller cruises into Players' Championship playoffs

Switzerland's Team Yannick Schwaller (Photo: Anil Mungal/GSOC) win again for second playoff spot in Toronto.

By: Cameron Sallaj

The disappointment of losing the World Men's Championship final on Sunday has not seemed to impact Team Yannick Schwaller as they continue to roll along at the 2025 AMJ Players' Championship.

After a convincing 7-1 thumping over Marco Hoesli in their first game, the team picked up wins over Marc Muskatewitz and Korey Dropkin while also losing to Bruce Mouat. Sitting 3-1 with one game remaining, the team faced Ross Whyte's Scottish side with a direct semifinal berth on the line.

Starting with hammer, Schwaller's men were forced to just one in the first end. This pattern continued through the next two ends with both teams trading singles to maintain a one-point game. The Schwaller rink then stole one in the fourth to increase their lead to 3-1.

Coming back in five, Ross Whyte and his quartet tacked the first deuce on the board to knot things up at three. This wouldn't last for long, however, with the Swiss taking one back in the sixth before stealing one in a well-controlled seventh end. This gave them a 5-3 lead coming home where Whyte could only manage another single point, giving Schwaller a 5-4 win in their final preliminary round game.

In the men's division, Schwaller and his lineup of Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel, Sven Michel and Pablo Lachat are now the second team qualified for the six-team playoff round, joining Team John Epping who qualified on Thursday.

There are four spots still up for grabs that will be decided in Friday's final two draws.

Meanwhile, the women's playoff picture became a lot clearer with Team Ha Seung-youn (3-2; Chuncheon, KOR) stealing back-to-back singles in seven and eight to solve Team Silvana Tirinzoni (3-1; Aarau, SUI) 8-7. Tirinzoni led 7-5 after five ends before being shut out by the Koreans in the final three frames. Both teams now join Hasselborg, Homan and Kim in the playoff round with one spot still up for grabs.

Other scores in Draw 13 saw Team Joel Retornaz (1-4; Cembra, ITA) pull out their first win 7-6 over Team Brad Gushue (1-4; St. John's, NL) while Team Isabella Wrana (2-3; Sundbyberg, SWE) kept their tiebreaker hopes alive by beating Team Kerri Einarson (2-3; Gimli, MB) 7-5.

The next draw from the 2025 AMJ Players' Championship gets underway at 3:30 pm ET Friday with streaming of every game available on HomeTeamLive.

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