 Calgary's Team Brendan Bottcher (Photo: Anil Mungal/GSOC) hoisted their first Slam trophy as a new squad following a 5-3 victory over Sweden's Team Niklas Edin Sunday at the Encana Arena in Camrose, Alberta. By: Cameron Sallaj Brendan Bottcher is back on top on the Grand Slam tour with his new rink of Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant, and Ben Hebert. In Sunday's final in Camrose, the team took on Sweden's Team Niklas Edin. Both teams qualified for the playoffs through the A side and were undefeated heading into the matchup. It wasn't an ideal start for the Bottcher rink as they were forced to just a single in the first end. The Swedes were then able to convert with the hammer and take two in the second end, giving themselves a 2-1 lead. That would be the last time the defending Olympic gold medalists would lead, however, as in the third Team Bottcher got their deuce back to retake the lead 3-2. They then stole back-to-back singles in ends four and five to take a significant three-point lead with only three ends to go. After a blank in six, Team Edin could only manufacture a single point in the seventh end, trailing by two and without the hammer heading into the eighth end. There, they were run out of rocks by the Calgary-based rink who secured their first Grand Slam title as a new unit. For their win, the Bottcher rink takes home the CDN$35,000 first place cheque, along with 75.000 world ranking points. Team Edin also had a nice pay day of CDN$20,000 and 55.000 world ranking points. This is the second tour event win of the season for the Brendan Bottcher rink who were also victorious at the ATB Okotoks Classic back in September. At the last Slam, the WFG Masters, the team was knocked out by eventual champions Team Joel Retornaz (Trentino, ITA) in the semifinals. After blanking the first six ends of the game, they lost in an extra end 3-1. This time around, the team was able to defeat the Italian squad 3-2 in the semifinals to move into the championship game. For the Swedish side, this was the first event back for skip Niklas Edin who suffered a knee injury in the semifinals of the HearingLife Tour Challenge. His team of Oskar Eriksson, Rasmus Wrana, and Christoffer Sundgren went on to win the slam and later competed in the WFG Masters and the European Curling Championships with alternate Daniel Magnusson. While Edin is still not at 100%, he was able to skip his team to a Grand Slam final just two months after his injury. Bottcher finished 3-0 in the sixteen-team qualifying round of the Co-op Canadian Open. In their opening game, the team defeated Team Reid Carruthers (Winnipeg, MB) 9-3 and then won 7-2 over Team John Epping (Toronto, ON). In the A event final, they were 4-2 winners over Team Korey Dropkin (Duluth, MN) to secure their playoff spot. They then beat Team Yannick Schwaller (Geneva, SUI) 5-0 in the quarterfinals before a narrow 3-2 win over Italy's Joel Retornaz in the semifinals. Next up for the Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling is the Princess Auto Players' Championship scheduled for April 11-16. The event will be held at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Ontario where teams will earn their final points in the race to the Pinty's Cup. In the meantime, provincial playdowns, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the Tim Hortons Brier, and the World Curling Championships are all on the horizon. |
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