CurlingZone: Gim wins again at Stu Sells Brantford NISSAN Classic

South Korea's Team Gim Eun-ji win third tour event of the season, defeating Danielle Inglis (Whitby, ON) 7-2 in the Stu Sells Brantford NISSAN Classic final.

By: Cameron Sallaj

The Gyeonggi Province curling team have been on a tear this fall in Canada and continued their strong performance this weekend at the Stu Sells Brantford NISSAN Classic.

The team, consisting of skip Gim Eun-ji, third Kim Min-ji, second Kim Su-ji, lead Seol Ye-eun, and alternate Seol Ye-ji won four sudden death matches at the Brantford Golf & Country Club in less than twenty-four hours to capture their third event title of the season.

In the final game, the Korean squad faced Team Danielle Inglis of Whitby, Ontario. Both teams advanced to the playoffs with wins in the "wildcard" tiebreaker round and then upset higher seeds in both the quarterfinal and semifinal games to qualify.

Inglis and her team of third Kira Brunton, second Cheryl Kreviazuk, and lead Cassandra de Groot began the game with hammer but were forced to one in the opening end. The Korean side then took two in the second and a single point steal in the third to go up 3-1 after three.

Team Inglis got a single point back in the fourth end to make the score 3-2, but it would be the last point scored for the Ontario team.

The Gim rink scored one in the fifth end to regain their two-point lead. From there, they took steals in ends six and seven to go up 7-2 on Team Inglis, bringing the game to an early finish.

For their win, the South Korean side takes home the $5,000CDN first place cheque along with 33.750 world ranking points. Team Inglis receives $3,000CDN and 24.750 world ranking points for second place.

Gim finished 2-1 in the twenty team round robin qualifying round. They began with a 5-2 loss to Tori Zemmelink (Navan, ON) before bouncing back with a 6-2 win over Katelyn Wasylkiw (Whitby, ON). They then beat Jacqueline Harrison (Dundas, ON) 6-5 in their final qualifying game.

In the tiebreaker round, Gim won 9-3 over Hailey Armstrong (Waterloo, ON) to advance to the quarterfinals as the eighth seed. They then knocked off Korean rivals Kim Eun-jung (Gangneung, KOR) 6-4 before defeating Team Zemmelink 7-2 to qualify for the final.

The Brantford NISSAN Classic event title is Team Gim's third event title of the season. The South Korean side, based in Uijeongbu, won the first Curling Stadium Alberta Curling Series event in August and then won the prestigious Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic in October. In eleven events played so far, the team has yet to not reach the playoff round and only twice did they lose in the quarterfinals.

This upcoming week, the team will shift their focus to the WFG Masters Grand Slam event in Oakville. Their first game will get underway Tuesday at 3:00 PM Eastern Time against Team Casey Scheidegger. They will also face Rachel Homan, Anna Hasselborg, and Michele Jaeggi in the preliminary round before the playoffs begin Saturday.

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