 Sandwiched between big-name skips Brad Gushue and Matt Dunstone in the Canadian rankings is an Alberta foursome that has broken out this season as a top-five team. (Photo: Anil Mungal, GSOC) Aaron Sluchinski's rink from Airdrie, Alta., has taken its game to the next level this year and has the potential to go deep at this week's Nufloors Penticton Curling Classic, finishing in the top four overall and receiving a bye directly to Sunday evening's quarterfinals. "We're putting in the work," said Sluchinski, who holds the No. 5 spot in this week's rankings. "Lots of practice to start the season and we're playing lots as well. We're getting lots of games and lots of experience. "Once you get into the Slams, you get to play all the top teams and you get to learn even more from them." Sluchinski started the week with a 25-11 record in a season that included appearances at the two early-season Grand Slams and the PointsBet Invitational. He also earned a pair of titles, including a win at the HUB International Alberta Curling Series Major in September. His foursome includes vice-skip Jeremy Harty, second Kerr Drummond and lead Dylan Webster. "I think we're opportunistic," Sluchinski told CurlingZone. "I think we try to be aggressive with hammer but try not to get in too much trouble. I think (Kevin) Koe said it the best, 'You only get hammer three or four times in a game so you want to use it.' "So you want to try to score your points every time you've got the brick." The 36-year-old Sluchinski skipped Alberta at the under-21 Canadian championships in 2008 and was a Brier alternate for Brendan Bottcher's Canada team last year. That's the extent of his national playdown experience with four-player teams. Sluchinski is looking to change that this season. "We're not the youngest team out here but we're not super-old either," he said. "So I think we definitely have lots of room to improve. If we can get into the playoffs in a Slam or make the Brier, I think we could position ourselves to do some damage in either one of those." At the Penticton Curling Club, Sluchinski opened with a 10-5 win over Nolan Blaeser of Vernon, B.C., and posted 7-4 victories over South Korea's Jongduk Park and Saskatoon's Mike McEwen. His lone defeat was a 5-4 extra-end decision to Rob Nobert of Vernon, B.C. Sluchinski finished with a 9-4 win over Rylan Kleiter of Saskatoon on Sunday morning. The 30-team field includes top Canadian teams like Calgary's Brendan Bottcher, Winnipeg's Reid Carruthers, Dunstone's Winnipeg-based side and Calgary's Kevin Koe. There's some international star power too with the likes of Park, American John Shuster (skipped this week by Chris Plys) and Japan's Riku Yanagisawa. "There's actually been quite a few upsets," Sluchinski said. "The pools aren't shaking out the exact way you'd think when you look at them. I definitely think it's anyone's game out there for sure." The quarterfinals are set for Sunday night and the semifinals and final at the $100,000 competition will be played Monday. "They have a massive purse," said Edmonton's Karsten Sturmay. "They have an organizing committee of probably 20 or 25 volunteers. They just go over and above to put on a fantastic event, which is a big reason why it attracts the calibre of teams that it does." Live feeds and replays are available on the CurlingZone website (www.curlingzone.com). |
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World number three ranked Gyeonggi Province's Gim Eun-ji (Photo: Curling1spoon) defend their national title in a thrilling extra end final Monday in Uijeongbu.
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