Fleury, Gunnlaugson win Icebreaker in Manitoba
Team Tracy Fleury and Team Jason Gunnlaugson broke the ice on the North American portion of the 2019-20 World Curling Tour season by capturing the Cargill Curling Training Centre Icebreaker titles in Morris, Man.
Team Fleury, from East St. Paul, Man., scored a deuce in the seventh end and stole one in the eighth to secure a 5-3 comeback victory over Japan’s Team Tori Koana during Sunday’s final. Team Gunnlaugson took two in five and stole three in six during a 7-5 win against Team Ty Dilello in the all-Winnipeg men’s final.
Both Fleury and Gunnlaugson finished the tournament undefeated including 2-0 runs through the double knockout preliminary round to earn byes to the semifinals. Earlier Sunday, Fleury fended off Japan’s Team Sayaka Yoshimura 6-5 while Gunnlaugson doubled up on Winnipeg’s Team JT Ryan 8-4 during the semis to book their spots in the finals.
Champions at the Icebreaker! Thank you to the crew at the @CargillCurlTC for a great event. Good start to the season and it was so nice having Liz back in our lineup! pic.twitter.com/khW3Qmwwb8
— Team Fleury (@TeamTracyFleury) August 26, 2019
Elsewhere in Week 5, Team Yannick Schwaller scored four points in the seventh to defeat Team Niklas Edin 6-4 and capture the Baden Masters title.
Schwaller’s Swiss squad posted a perfect 7-0 record in their home country event.
UP NEXT: The Oakville Fall Classic is the lone stop on the calendar for Week 6 and begins Friday at the Oakville Curling Club in Ontario.