LONDON, Ont. — Team Eun-ji Gim of South Korea secured a playoff spot in the AMJ Masters following a 10-4 victory over Canada's Team Kerri Einarson during Draw 14 Friday.
It was a game Einarson had to win as her team finished the preliminary round with a 1-3 record and was eliminated from contention.
Gim, who will represent South Korea at the 2026 Winter Olympics, qualified for the quarterfinals at 3-1 with nine points.
During the preliminary round and tiebreakers at the AMJ Masters, teams draw to the button to determine the winner instead of playing an extra end. Teams receive three points for a regulation win (in eight ends or less), two points for a shootout win and one point for a shootout loss. Extra ends will return for the playoffs.
Gim came out firing and was rewarded with a strong start in the first end. Einarson’s last shot was heavy and bounced to roll open, allowing Gim to bump it out and push another one off to the side to score four.
Things went from bad to worse for Einarson in the second as she wrecked on a guard to give up two and fall behind 6-0.
The game was still young, and Einarson closed the gap to 6-4 with a hit for two in the third, followed by a steal of two in the fourth when Gim’s last rock flashed through the rings.
That was all the offence Einarson could generate. The six-time Grand Slam champion had to make a double takeout in the fifth to limit the damage, as Gim was able to bump and promote her own rock to take two more points and re-establish the four-point advantage.
Einarson attempted an angle raise in the sixth that had too much juice and almost sailed through the rings untouched, leading to a steal oftwo more points and handshakes.
DRAW 14 RESULTS
Rylan Kleiter and his Canadian club finished on a positive note with a 6-5 shootout win over Team Bruce Mouat of Scotland.
The world No. 17 Kleiter (1-3, two points) drew to the back of the button for the equalizing point in the eighth end and needed to make an identical shot in the shootout. After Mouat made it to the top of the button, Kleiter's rock hit the brakes just in time.
"It was nice," Kleiter said. "I kind of had the same shot three times in a row, and my sweepers did a great job. They were doing a great job all day, so there was a lot of trust in them. Just throw it out there and let them guide it in there."
Kleiter was on the ice Thursday night when The Banana Bar Crawl invaded the arena as hundreds of fans in banana costumes filled the on-ice lounge. A bunch of bananas returned Friday afternoon, giving Kleiter the slow cap treatment during his draw shots and cheering him on. Of course, they were also shouting for peel shots.
"We loved it," Kleiter said. "Last night there was a bit of a buzz out there. We kind of feed off that. The more people and the more noise, the better."
It was the third shootout of the week for Mouat, whose team finished the preliminary round at 2-2 with seven points to qualify for the playoffs.
Defending men's champ Ross Whyte and his Scottish squad swept through the preliminary round.
Whyte completed an undefeated 4-0 run and earned the maximum 12 points on the men's side following a 9-5 victory over Switzerland's Team Marco Hösli (1-3).
Sweden's Team Isabella Wranå stole two in the eighth end to edge Japan's Team Satsuki Fujisawa 6-4.
Wranå (2-2, seven points) remains in the mix, while Fujisawa, who had the hammer coming home but came up short of the rings, was eliminated with a 1-3 record (three points).
UP NEXT
Round-robin play continues with Draw 15 at 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT at the Western Fair Sports Centre.
Tickets are available at GSOCtickets.com with live online streaming at rockchannel.com and broadcast coverage on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
NOTES
The AMJ Masters features 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams.
The top eight teams qualify for the playoffs. If necessary, tiebreakers will be played Saturday morning. The quarterfinals and semifinals are set for Saturday. Both finals are scheduled for Sunday.
