 Sweden's Niklas Edin (Photo: Anil Mungal/GSOC) stole their way into the playoff round against Manitoba's Brad Jacobs. By: Cameron Sallaj The final round robin draw of the 2024 Princess Auto Players' Championship was quite simple for both the Niklas Edin and Brad Jacobs rinks: win and you're in. Tied with 2-2 records each, the winner would earn the last men's playoff spot while the loser would be eliminated at the final hour. The world champions from Karlstad, with Edin, Oskar Eriksson, Rasmus Wrana and Christoffer Sundgren were forced to one in the first end by Team Jacobs. Facing two counters, Edin made the nose hit to get on the board first. From then on, the Swedes never looked back as they outcurled the Jacobs team at every position. The team stole singles in the second and fourth ends to open up a 3-0 lead at the break before forcing the Manitoba squad to just one in the fifth. Leading 3-1, the 2017 Players' champions blanked both the sixth and seventh ends before running Jacobs out of stones in the eighth to secure the win. Thanks to a strong draw-to-the-button total, Team Edin moved up to third place overall with their 3-2 record, qualifying for the quarterfinal round where they will take on Italy's Joel Retornaz (3-2). In the other qualifier, Newfoundland and Labrador's Brad Gushue (3-2) meets Scotland's Ross Whyte (3-2). Team Mike McEwen (4-1; Saskatoon, SK) and Team Bruce Mouat (4-1; Stirling, SCO) finished first and second respectively and earned the two byes to the semifinals. On the women's side of the draw, Sweden's Anna Hasselborg simplified the conversation with a 7-6 victory over Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones. The win moved the Swedes directly into the playoff round, eliminating both Jones and Kerri Einarson in the process. Team Hasselborg, who qualified as the sixth seeds, takes on number three seed Korea's Gim Eun-ji in one quarterfinal while in the other, Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni plays Korea's Kim Eun-jung. Team Rachel Homan (5-0; Ottawa, ON) and Team Isabella Wrana (4-1; Sundbyberg, SWE) await the winners in the semifinals. Playoff Saturday gets underway at 11:30 AM Eastern Time with the women's quarterfinals followed by the men's quarterfinals at 3:30. Both the men's and women's semifinals will be played at 7:30 PM ET with the winners advancing to the finals on Sunday. |
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Team Anna Hasselborg (Photo: World Curling) are back on top at the Olympics with a 6-5 victory over Switzerland in the gold medal game.
