VICTORIA — Sparks and fist pumps were flying when Matt Dunstone delivered his final shot against Danny Casper, scoring two points for an intense 8-7 win Thursday at the GSOC Co-op Invitational.
Dunstone improved to a 2-1 record (six points) in the season’s first Grand Slam of Curling tournament at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.
With four seconds left on his thinking time clock, Dunstone nailed the soft bump into the quarry to score the winning deuce that fired up the team and the crowd.
"Awesome. That was a game I thought we deserved to win, for sure," Dunstone said. "A bad pick in six, and then I had a bad miss on my last in seven to let him back into it. But to come back with a big shot, fun way to end it."
As Dunstone alluded to, hits and misses highlighted the earlier stages of the match. Casper misfired a runback in the first end to put two points in Dunstone's pocket with one shot to go; however, the Winnipeg skip couldn't add a third rock to the count, tapping and rolling too far.
That lost point came back to hurt. Casper chiselled out Dunstone’s shot rock in the second to score three points and take the lead as the back-and-forth chase was on.
Dunstone took the lead right back with a draw for a deuce after Casper clipped his own rock in the fourth.
Casper drew for two in the fifth, and Dunstone’s aforementioned unlucky break in the sixth led to just a single and a 6-4 advantage.
The American skip unlocked Dunstone’s rock to count another three-ender in the seventh, setting the stage for the thrilling final frame.
"He's a phenomenal player. They're a really good team," Dunstone said. "We knew they were going to be high energy, and you know when they scored points, we knew we were going to hear it.
"Just fortunate that we had hammer in eight and were able to get the last celebration today."
Casper also sits at 2-1 with six points and one preliminary round game remaining Friday against Scotland’s Team Orrin Carson.
Team Dunstone will take on the newly formed Team Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton. Dunstone said it’s massive to bring momentum into that match.
"Three points is big, right? I mean, to even get a point or two there kind of puts our backs against the wall, going into the last one, and now I hesitate to say we have wiggle room, but we do have a little bit more wiggle room than we would have otherwise," Dunstone said.
"Obviously, that's a big one, big Canadian matchup with a team we haven't played yet, so I'm looking forward to that one."
Eleventh time’s the charm for Hösli
After missing the playoffs in their first 10 GSOC appearances, Marco Hösli and his Swiss squad have finally qualified for the playoffs here at the Co-op Invitational.
Hösli was the first past the post, climbing to a 3-0 record (nine points) with a 7-4 win over Scotland’s Team Grant Hardie in Thursday’s morning draw.
"It's just amazing to be in the playoffs finally," Hösli said. "I think it's something we worked on for a long time and now finally achieving it is great. We just hope to enjoy the games out there in the playoffs, and also the next one, and hopefully get some more wins."
A hot start helped propel Hösli past Hardie, as his team converted for a deuce in the first and stole two in the second for an early 4-0 lead. Hardie, with Ross Whyte throwing the last rocks, recovered to take two back in the third and stole one in the fourth to close within one.
After singles back and forth, Hösli swiped another point in the sixth to hold a 6-3 lead. Hardie was held to another lonely single point in seven, and Hösli added an insurance-marker in eight.
“I think we were a tiny bit more precise in the first couple ends and after that, got a little shaky, but we managed to pull out the win in the end still,” Hösli said. “I’m just happy about that.”
The Glarus club was actually the 16th and final men’s team to enter the event, having qualified through the Satellite Events series by winning the Prestige Hotels and Resorts Curling Classic two weeks ago in Vernon, B.C.
Schwaller outduels Ramsfjell
The last time Switzerland's Team Yannick Schwaller and Norway's Team Magnus Ramsfjell faced was in the bronze game at the Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina. Schwaller downed Ramsfjell in a 9-1 rout for the final podium place, although Ramsfjell earned style points with a spin-a-rama to end it.
Thursday’s contest was a little different, with Schwaller needing a shootout to solve Ramsfjell 7-6.
Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel, who throws the last rocks for world No. 1 Team Schwaller, was clutch, covering the pinhole with his draw to the button. Team Ramsfjell's lead Mathias Bræden made it to the lid as well but rolled a tad too far.
"Yeah, very good. Good to take the money home, frankly, because that's what's important," Schwarz-van Berkel said. “We also qualify for a playoff with a shootout. We could have won the three points if I make my first in eight, so kind of a big miss there. But yeah, making the pressure shootout is always a nice feeling, of course.”
Schwarz-van Berkel described the team's play as decent this week as they improved to a 2-1-0-0 record (eight points) and are in good standing to make the playoff cut.
"I think some high ups, a couple of mistakes we've had this week, but overall solid," he said. "With two-and-a-half wins now, I think that reflects our play, and we're happy about it."
Schwaller finishes preliminary play against Hardie on Friday in a matchup between the top two teams in the rankings. They've met once already this season, with Schwaller downing Hardie 8-2 in the Euro Super Series final in August.
“I think it's not even fair that we have to play them this early,” Schwarz-van Berkel said with a laugh. “Yeah, it should be a good game. I'm looking forward to it. I mean, it's always nice that we probably don't have to win, but we don't even care about that, frankly. We want to play well every game and build up for the playoffs."
Hardie has returned to skipping after playing with Bruce Mouat during an incredible nine-year tenure, winning two Olympic silver medals, two world championships and 12 Grand Slams.
Flashback to Hardie’s GSOC debut as a skip at the 2017 Champions Cup, where he faced Team Peter de Cruz in his first game. Schwarz-van Berkel threw the last rocks for de Cruz back then and thumped the rookie Hardie 8-1.
“Crazy. Yeah, almost 10 years ago,” Schwarz-van Berkel said. “It's nice. I mean, they're a very strong team with a lot of potential, of course, so it feels like it's not going to be the last time we play them ever. I'm looking forward to a good game with a good atmosphere in the stadium.”
