By Jonathan Brazeau
MEDICINE HAT, Alta. — Glenn Howard has seen a lot of things during his curling career, but a burned rock in a shootout was still a first.
Howard, who coaches Yannick Schwaller’s Swiss squad, watched from the bench as lead Pablo Lachat-Couchepin accidentally touched their stone with his brush when it reached the button during Wednesday night’s game against Team Marco Hösli. Instead of potentially covering the pin, Team Schwaller was given the maximum distance. Philipp Hösli just had to land anywhere in the house, but drew to the button regardless, to win 8-7.
Fortunately for Team Schwaller, they had little time to dwell on the tough loss, with their next match early Thursday against Edmonton’s Team Peter Hlushak. Schwaller shrugged it off to earn a 6-2 victory.
“The boys played great last night. We had an unfortunate couple of sweeps we'd like back and then the one little burned rock in the draw to the button, but whatever, it happens,” said Howard, whose team improved to a 2-1 record. “The boys are resilient. They know it's sports, and they took it all in stride. No biggie.
“Came out gangbusters this morning and that was a big win. To get the point last night and then to get three here, we're at seven points, which is in a great position with one more game to go. The mindset's great, and I’m really happy where the boys are at right now.”
Howard said the team briefly talked about the burned rock in their post-game chat before moving on.
“Pablo was really upset with himself when he burned the rock, but it's not like he tried to do it. He's trying to make the shot as good as possible. It's one of those where you learn from your mistakes. Try not to do it again,” Howard said.
“The guys are awesome. They're not going to point fingers at all. We all know it's sports and not that big a deal. We took it in stride, and you come out and play another day.”
Although Hlushak (0-3) opened with the hammer, Schwaller stole away to an early 5-0 lead. Schwaller, who won his second Grand Slam title at last month’s Co-op Invitational, pilfered pairs of points in the first two ends and swiped another one in the fourth for the huge early advantage.
After alternating singles in five and six, Hlushak added another in seven and shook hands.
Howard is pleased with his team’s overall performance this week.
“They just come out firing all the time, which I love,” he said. “They just try and win every end and make every shot from the beginning. They try not to rest on their laurels, sort of thing, but then again, they're in a great place right now.
“They're confident. The mindset's great. As a coach, it's pretty easy.”
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Dunstone secures playoff spot
Matt Dunstone and his Winnipeg team were the first to qualify for the playoffs in the men’s division.
Dunstone clinched at 3-0 with a 6-3 victory over Edmonton’s Team Evan Van Amsterdam on Thursday.
“Yeah, mission accomplished and a little less stressful than the first Slam, losing our first one and then having our backs up against it,” Dunstone said. “I think we struggled a little bit today, more so compared to the other two games. Just a little different surface, and we didn't make the adjustments, but we got a break in the second end and just managed the scoreboard from there.
"Like I said, mission accomplished … and just pleased with where we're at, obviously."
Dunstone was forced to a single in the first, but a steal of two in the second gave him a three-point lead. It was just singles back and forth from there to the end as Van Amsterdam (0-3) couldn't erase the deficit.
Even with a quarterfinals ticket punched, don’t expect Dunstone to ease up in his preliminary round finale Friday against Team Danny Casper of the United States. Dunstone is looking to sharpen things up before the playoffs, and an unblemished 4-0 record would guarantee his team the hammer to start the quarterfinals.
“Having gone on runs before, I know how important that piece of it is, so obviously we want to come out and just play better as well,” Dunstone said. “I know none of us are super happy with how we played in that last one. So, come out tomorrow night, play really well, obviously it'd be great to lock up hammer and then feel good going into Saturday.”
That’s Mou like it
Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat (3-0) will advance to the playoffs for the first time this season.
The “drought” sounds worse than it actually is, as P&H Masters is only Mouat’s third event of the season, but he said it feels good after his team missed the cut at the Euro Super Series satellite tournament in August and last month’s GSOC Co-op Invitational.
“We've taken a slower start,” said Mouat, who has dropped from No. 1 to No. 7 in the world rankings since the season began. “This is our third competition. We know a lot of teams have played a lot more events than us, so we weren't expecting to come out and just be at the top of the league every time.
"Nice to be back and playing some really good stuff again. Three-and-oh is nice to get our first qualification of the season and very happy to, hopefully, ride a bit of a momentum wave into tomorrow's game and into the playoffs.”
Mouat qualified with a 4-2 victory over Winnipeg’s Team Jordon McDonald in Thursday’s late afternoon draw.
McDonald (1-2) gave up three consecutive steals to start, missing a runback in the first, coming up short on a draw in the second, and cutting the damage down to one in the third as he faced four Mouat counters.
The teams alternated singles in four and five, and McDonald was limited to another lonely point in seven.
Mouat wraps up his preliminary round schedule facing Team Brad Jacobs of Calgary in an Olympic final rematch.
“Enjoying our time here in Medicine Hat and playing some good curling,” said Mouat, who earned silver in Milano Cortina. “We’ve had three pretty good games so far, so I'm looking forward to the big one tomorrow against Jacobs.”
Shot of the day
Brendan Bottcher had to risk it for the biscuit, but the rocks were all lined up for the crazy multiple raise.
Tied coming home, Bottcher pulled off the precision shot with his last to score two and lift his Edmonton club to a 5-3 victory over Italy's Team Stefano Spiller.
Mamma mia, indeed.
