MEDICINE HAT, Alta. — There’s a first time for everything in the Grand Slam of Curling presented by Molson Canadian.
Team Yannick Schwaller and Team Marco Hösli needed a shootout to settle their all-Swiss showdown in Thursday's evening draw of the P&H Masters.
The world No. 1 Schwaller held the hammer and opted to shoot first, with fourth Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel handling the honours. But as their stone was coming to rest on the button, lead Pablo Lachat-Couchepin accidentally burned the rock by making contact with his broom.
As a result, Team Schwaller was given the maximum distance from the pin — the same as if it had happened in the pre-game draw to determine the hammer.
Philipp Hösli, who throws the last rocks on his brother’s team, then only needed to touch the paint anywhere in the house, but put it on the button for good measure to win 8-7.
Considering a burned rock in a shootout had never happened before in the series, both teams could be forgiven for not knowing what to do following the incident.
“It was a bit (of a) special situation there,” Marco said. “We were actually not sure about the rules, how they work or how they are, but they treated it as a burned rock, so we had to hit the house.
"It feels a bit strange to win like this, to be honest, but in the end it's about the points. Strange feeling, but happy about the points.”
It was an unfortunate end for what had been a textbook start for Schwaller, who won last month's GSOC Co-op Invitational. Schwaller forced Hösli to singles in the second and fourth ends while converting for deuces with the hammer in the third and fifth to lead 4-2.
The seesaw battle picked up in the second half. Hösli scored three in the sixth to take a one-point lead, but Schwaller came right back with a three-ender of his own in the seventh. Hösli took two in the eighth to knot it up and force the shootout.
“It was a tight game, back and forth, lots of good shots and also a couple of misses from both teams and made the score very interesting,” Marco said.
Hösli earned two points, while Schwaller still received one point due to holding the hammer in the extra frame.
