 Minnesota's Team Casper (Photo: Brad Coccimiglio/ SooToday) defeated Italy's Joel Retornaz 8-5 in the final of the Henderson Metal Fall Classic presented by Kioti Tractors of Ontario in Sault Ste. Marie. By Connor Simms, The team from Chaska, Minnesota, had a bit of a different look this week without their skip, as he was away with Team Shuster at the Pan Continental Championships.. Coach/fifth of the team, Rich Ruohenen, slotted in at skipping while throwing lead stones this week. Luc Violette slotted in, throwing fourth, Ben Richardson threw second, and Aiden Oldenburg threw second. Casper is starting to peak at the right time, as the USA Olympic Trials are just a few weeks away. They have already climbed to the top 15 in the world this season, with an event win at the AMJ Masters Tier 2 event. As well as a second-place finish at the Trentino World Cup. This week, they are at the Henderson Metal Fall Classic, presented by Kioti Tractors of Ontario, in Sault Ste. Marie. They make their debut at this event. This event was an 18-team, triple-knockout format. Two teams qualified from the A-side, and three from the B/C-side. The playoffs consisted of a regular 8-team, single-elimination round. Casper finished 3-1, qualifying on the B-side. In their opening game, Casper defeated Jongduk Park (Gangwon, KOR) 9-1, then won 6-2 against Michael Fournier (Toronto, ON). Casper went on to lose 7-6 against Matt Dunstone (Winnipeg, MB). Casper responded with a 6-2 win over Shinya Abe (Sapporo, JPN) in their final qualifying round match. In the quarterfinals, Casper defeated Reid Carruthers (Winnipeg, MB) 6-2, then in the semi-finals they defeated Evan Van Amsterdam(Edmonton, AB) 6-1. They led to a matchup with Joel Retornaz (Trentino, ITA) in the final. Since they both qualified on the B-side, there was a draw to the button for the hammer, in which Casper won. Retornaz jumped out to a 2-0 lead, stealing singles in the first and third ends. Casper quickly responded with two in the fourth and a steal of one in the fifth. Retornaz got the lead again with three in the sixth, but it was immediately answered with three from Casper. Retornaz was unable to generate offence in the eighth, resulting in a steal of two for Casper at the 8-5 win. This win marks the first time someone other than Dunstone has won this event. Casper will also take home the $24,000 cash prize. Casper will now head to Manitoba for the MCT Atkins Curling Supplies Classic in Winnipeg, MB, next weekend. From November 11th-16th is the UA Olympic Trials inSioux Falls, North Dakota. |
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Calgary's Brad Jacobs (Photo: Curling Canada/Andrew Klaver) defeats Winnipeg's Matt Dunstone 6-5, winning 2 games to 0 in a best-of-three final at the Montana's Canadian Olympic Curling Trials in Halifax, N.
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