STEINBACH, Man. — The last time Team Peterson played in a Grand Slam of Curling major tournament, there weren't any Petersons in the lineup.
Both skip Tabitha Peterson and her sister, second Tara Peterson, were on maternity leave and missed the 2024 Tour Challenge. Third Cory Thiesse moved up to call the shots. Vicky Persinger handled vice skip duties, with alternate Aileen Geving at second, and Taylor Anderson-Heide at lead.
It was quite the journey for Team Peterson to get back into the top flight for this week's Crown Royal Players' Championship. Both Petersons are back in the lineup, with Thiesse returning to third, Anderson-Heide remaining at lead and Geving on the bench.
"It just wasn't our best season (last year) because we weren't fully there all the time," Tara Peterson said. "We started this season off sooner and worked harder. We've just had a really good season, and we've just been very determined.
"We're just riding that momentum, and we're just keeping it moving forward."
Peterson and Team Danny Casper will represent the United States in Milano Cortina, with both securing their spots at the last-chance Olympic Qualification Event in November.
They're not the only American teams in the Crown Royal Players' Championship, with Team John Shuster also earning an invitation on the men's side.
It's the first time three American teams are competing in the Grand Slam season finale since 2018. That event saw Team Jamie Sinclair win the women's title, becoming the first American-based club to capture a major championship in the series.
"It's exciting," Casper said. "We've all put in a lot of work, especially over the last couple of years. I know Peterson and Shuster, the last couple of years, and for Peterson especially, they had kids a year ago, or something like that. That's awesome that everyone is seemingly playing well at a good time, leading into the Olympics.
"For me too, I just like hanging out with my friends, so I'm glad that they're all here."
Tara Peterson added: "It's good for U.S. curling, even just going back to the OQE when we both won our spots ... but I think it's good for curling in general because the sport is growing in the U.S. I just think it's really huge for the sport overall."
PETERSON, CASPER PICK UP WINS
For once, Team Peterson didn't have to grind and scrap for a come-from-behind victory Thursday.
Peterson defeated Sweden's Team Anna Hasselborg 8-5, improving to a 2-1-0-0 record (eight points).
"It was good. We just had the momentum the entire game, so it was nice that we could finish it off," Tara Peterson said.
The key moment of the match came in the fifth end. After deuces were wild through the first half, Peterson capitalized on a Hasselborg miss to draw for three critical points.
"Yeah, that was awesome. We just hardly missed a big end in the first, so we knew if we were just patient, we were outplaying them, that we could just continue to play well and eventually it would come," Tara Peterson said.
Casper earned his first win of the week, doubling up on Sweden's Team Niklas Edin 6-3.
"We kind of started slow, and we’re just focusing on building throughout the week and just trying to get better," Casper said. "Obviously, you want to win, but we weren't too worried about how many points we came away with at the end of the week.
"We just want to keep building and improving, coming back after the holidays, so getting a win always makes it feel better though."
With the Winter Olympics less than a month away, there isn't a better final tune-up than facing teams they'll meet again in Cortina.
"It's really good prep for that, just because we haven't been at a Grand Slam in a while playing these teams," Tara Peterson said. "It’s just a reminder that we can compete against these teams and be at the top. It's just a good positive thing for us."
Casper (1-0-1-2, four points) opened with regulation losses to China's Team Xu Xiaoming and Switzerland's Team Yannick Schwaller followed by a shootout defeat to Scotland's Team Bruce Mouat.
"It is cool because we are playing, I think, most of our games against teams that we're going to play in Cortina, so it's just nice to be out there with them," Casper said. "I really don't think there's that much in terms of getting a look at a team in curling as people think there is. I think it's more just about being out there and being familiar with who you're out there with. It's always nice to play them."
Casper's final round-robin game isn't against a Cortina opponent but someone he's well-versed with: Shuster.
A DOUBLE SHOOTOUT? WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Through the first four Grand Slam events of the season, there wasn’t a single double shootout. Through three days of play in Crown Royal Players’ Championship, there have already been two.
The second came Thursday night as Winnipeg’s own Team Matt Dunstone faced off against Calgary’s Team Brad Jacobs in an all-Canadian clash. Although Jacobs had already been eliminated with a winless record, the Cortina-bound club could still play the spoiler, as it was a must-win match for Dunstone.
Ben Hebert went first in the shootout for Team Jacobs and placed it right on the pinhole, putting all of the pressure on Dunstone. However, Dunny was money and matched it to send it to a second round. This time, Jacobs landed at the top of the four-foot circle, and Team Dunstone’s Colton Lott drew closer to the lid to earn the 7-6 victory as the Manitoba crowd roared for the home team.
“The draw to the button crowd's going to be happy about how that one finished,” said Dunstone, who also picked up a shootout win over Team Mike McEwen on Tuesday night. “Fun win, a bit of a strange game without question. Great to get a win in the evening, home crowd cheering for us. It keeps us alive, I think, so big day tomorrow.”
Dunstone had a pair of misses earlier in the match, giving up back-to-back steals in the fourth and fifth ends, to fall behind 4-2. The teams alternated deuces in six and seven, and Dunstone rallied with a double takeout to count two more points in the eighth to push it into a shootout.
“I fought it in the front half of the game. I'm struggling. I mean, everyone sees that, but I made a couple of big shots late to get a deuce in six and a deuce in eight. That's all you can do,” Dunstone said. “When you're struggling, when those opportunities present themselves, good skips find ways to make those types of shots when you don't have your best stuff, and that's what happened tonight.
“Thankfully, it gives us a chance to stay alive because it would have sucked leaving tonight knowing we're done, obviously, and just having missed all those opportunities I did in the first half with my rocks. It gives us a chance tomorrow to win two and hopefully make the playoffs.”
Dunstone (0-2-0-1, four points) has a big two-game day to wrap up pool play Friday as he faces Italy’s Team Joël Retornaz at Noon CT followed by Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte at 8 p.m. CT.
It’ll be an electric evening as the final round-robin draw is already sold out.
“We totally want to come out firing, win that first one and then make it win or go home for that 8 p.m. game,” Dunstone said. “Take care of business at noon, make sure it's a party for 8 p.m. and enjoy it again.
"I've never played in front of a home crowd before, tons of friends and family out there tonight. It's a lot of fun, so hopefully we give them something to cheer for tomorrow.”
MAKE WAY FOR WADDELL
Team Bruce Mouat and Team Ross Whyte have been making noise in the Grand Slams, but there’s another Scottish squad heating up this week.
Team Kyle Waddell qualified for the playoffs undefeated at 3-1-0-0 (11 points) following a decisive 9-2 victory over Canada’s Team Mike McEwen in the late afternoon draw.
Waddell scored four off the bat and closed things out early in the fifth. McEwen flashed a double attempt, handing Waddell an open draw for three and handshakes.
“I was saying earlier, we're probably not in top gear, but we're making the right shots at the right time, and that wins you games,” Waddell said. “I think that's what we've done really well in the first four games, so hopefully, we can carry that into the next two, hopefully three games.
“Yeah, making the right shots at the right time, and if we can just step up a little bit in other areas, then we should be exactly where we want to be.”
Waddell joined forces with third Mark Watt, second Angus Bryce and lead Blair Haswell ahead of the season. They started the Grand Slam tour in the Tier 2 division of the AMJ Masters in September. Thanks to a strong fall campaign, Waddell made it into the top flight in time for the next Grand Slam in October at the CO-OP Tour Challenge, and his team has been buzzing ever since.
“You want to be in the Slams. Outside the international events, it's the ones you want to win,” Waddell said. “Our season, we kind of knew we were going to be in the Tier 2 early, so we played early to make sure that we'd have a good Tier 2 and we would get into these Slams and then obviously the Players’.
“If I'm being completely honest, that was one of the season goals was to finish top 10, year to date, so we knew if we'd done that early, played early, done well, we would get into the Players’ and that gave us a good chance to finish the season top 10.”
Waddell will make his second appearance at the Winter Olympics in a few weeks as the alternate for Team Mouat. He made his Olympic debut in Pyeongchang in 2018, playing second for skip Kyle Smith. Mouat earned silver for Great Britain in Beijing in 2022, with the world No. 1 team now looking to take the top step on the podium.
“Unfortunately, I missed out in 2022, so it feels like a while since 2018, that's for sure, but yeah, I'm excited,” Waddell said. “I'm excited for the boys. They obviously have been in the Olympics before, but it was a COVID Olympics, so I'm excited for them. They are getting to experience it properly, and I'm excited to support them.
“At the end of the day, we're going there to represent Great Britain, so I'm sure we'll be doing everything we can to make sure we come away with what we want to come away with.”
FUJISAWA ON TRACK IN POINTS RACE
Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa strung together a second straight win, defeating Switzerland’s Team Xenia Schwaller 6-4 during the morning draw.
Fujisawa opened with a tough 7-3 loss Tuesday to Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg, surrendering five points through steals, and bounced back with a 5-4 win Wednesday against Canada’s Team Rachel Homan. Fujisawa has had Homan’s number of late, with wins in the Pan Continental Curling Championships round-robin and HearingLife Canadian Open quarterfinals as well.
“To be 2-1 right now, we’re pretty happy,” Team Fujisawa coach J.D. Lind said. “The loss to Hasselborg was tough, but they're a very strong team, and they always play well against us. They give us trouble.
“I'm just happy with the way that we bounced back after that game, especially knowing we had Homan next. We've played really well against Homan this season, so I felt good to get three in a row.”
The Crown Royal Players’ Championship is also huge for the Japanese teams in a points race to represent the nation at the World Women’s Curling Championship. The team with the highest combined total from their top eight events at the end of the month will earn the spot.
Fujisawa (214.5 points), Team Momoha Tabata (231.55), Team Sayaka Yoshimura (223.75) and Team Ikue Kitazawa (173.975) are all competing in the Crown Royal Players’ Championship. Given that it’s the biggest Grand Slam of the season, whoever has the best performance this week could snag the berth.
“This is a big event for us, especially knowing we're not going to the Olympics this year,” Lind said. “The Slams are always the main focus for us, regardless, but definitely this year. We're taking this event as a super important one for us, and hopefully, we can keep it going.”
It might come down to the wire. Fujisawa, Tabata and Yoshimura all reached the semifinals of last month's HearingLife Canadian Open — the first time three Japanese clubs made it to the penultimate stage of a Grand Slam event. Fujisawa edged Tabata for a spot in the final, while Yoshimura fell to Team Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland. Tirinzoni then topped Fujisawa 7-1 for the title.
YOSHIMURA RIDES THE STEAL TRAIN
Thursday just wasn’t Kerri Einarson’s day as her team fell 10-2 to Yoshimura.
Nine of Yoshimura’s points were the result of steals.
Facing two in the first, Einarson was forced to hit and roll, but her shooter stopped short to give up a steal of one in a harbinger of things to come.
Einarson’s runback in the second went haywire, with her raised rock rolling out along with her shooter, leaving both of Yoshimura’s stones in the house to surrender two more points.
Things went from bad to worse for Einarson in the third. Yoshimura continued the pressure, sitting four stones, and stole them all, as Einarson chipped off and rolled right through the posts to fall behind 7-0.
With Yoshimura up 8-2 in the sixth, Einarson was down but not out with an opportunity to score five.
It was just a tad too tricky as the angle raise takeout attempt connected too thick, leading to a steal of two more points, and out came the handshakes.
Yoshimura drew level to a 2-0-0-2 record (six points), with Einarson now at 1-0-0-2 (three points).
SHOT OF THE DAY
Ross Whyte may have lost 7-6 to Italy's Joël Retornaz in the shootout, but the Scottish skip pulled off a beauty just to get there and bank a point in the standings.
Trailing by two coming home, all the angles lined up brilliantly for Whyte to pull off a triple takeout and score the equalizing deuce.
You never know, Whyte could also end up with the Shot of the Week bonus cheque for his efforts.
We'll also give style points to John Shuster with his through-the-legs, slam-dunk single to cap an 8-4 loss to Yannick Schwaller.
ABOUT THE EVENT
The Crown Royal Players' Championship is the fifth and final Grand Slam of Curling event of the season, featuring 12 of the top men's teams and 12 of the top women's teams from around the world.
Both divisions are split into two pools of six for round-robin play. The top six teams overall advance to the playoffs, with the best two receiving byes to the semifinals. If necessary, one tiebreaker round will be played on Saturday.
If a game is tied after eight ends during the round-robin stage, a draw-to-the-button shootout will determine the winner. Teams receive three points for a regulation win, two points for a shootout win and one point for a shootout loss.
Extra ends will be played instead of shootouts during the tiebreakers and playoffs. The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, with both finals on tap Sunday.
