 Sweden's Isabella Wrana (Photo: Anil Mungal/GSOC) is trying to repeat as champions in Toronto and got off to a good start Tuesday morning. By: Cameron Sallaj The 2024 Princess Auto Players' Championship, the final stop on the Grand Slam of Curling circuit for this season, kicked off Tuesday morning at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto. The first draw saw three blowout games while just one game came down to the wire. One of those blowout games saw Isabella Wrana and her Swedish rink steal seven points en route to a 9-2 victory over Team Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg and Altona, Manitoba. It was Team Jones, with third Karlee Burgess, second Emily Zacharias and lead Lauren Lenentine that had a hot start, taking two with the hammer in the first. From then on, however, the Swedish rink would dominate the rest of the game. Wrana, third Almida de Val, second Maria Larsson and lead Linda Stenlund equalized the score with two of their own in the second end, followed by a single steal in the third. A blank in four meant Wrana retained a 3-2 edge heading to the second half. In five, the Swedish side, which earned a fourth-place finish at the European Championships in November, stole two more points for a comfortable three-point advantage. Then in six, the defending Players' champions swiped another four points to end the game early, 9-2 the final score. Team Wrana come into the Players' Championship as the ninth ranked team in the world. After winning their first slam last year in Toronto, the team put together a successful 2023-24 season with playoff appearances in eleven of thirteen events. They also got to represent Sweden on the international women's stage for the first time at the European Championships. With super spare coach Eve Muirhead on the bench for the team this week in Toronto, they are trying to defend their title and cap off the season with another victory. This will be the final event for the Jones rink as following its conclusion, skip Jennifer Jones will step away from competitive women's play. Jones, who has won the Players' a record six times is trying to end her women's career off on a high note by adding a seventh championship to her name. Elsewhere in Draw 1, the two men's games did not have close scores either. Team Ross Whyte beat Team James Craik 6-1 in an all-Scottish battle while Team Bruce Mouat shutout Team Reid Carruthers 9-0. In the other women's game, South Korea's Kim Eun-jung counted two in the eighth end to edge slam newcomer Xenia Schwaller 4-3. Schwaller won the World Junior Championships in February and has been on a tear this season, winning four women's events and currently sitting eleventh in the world. The second draw of the Princess Auto Players' Championship begins at 3:00 PM Eastern Time at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto. Sportsnet's TV coverage begins Thursday. |
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Brendan Bottcher (photo: Stan Fong) is moving on from now former teammates Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert, announced Tuesday.
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