By Jonathan Brazeau
VICTORIA — Miyu Ueno and her Japanese team had to earn their ticket to the GSOC Co-op Invitational, but they're proving they belong.
The Karuizawa club was one of four women's teams to qualify for the season's first Grand Slam of Curling event through the new Satellite Events series. Ueno clinched a berth by reaching the semis of the AMJ Shorty Jenkins Classic since both finalists, Alina Pätz and Xenia Schwaller, had already been selected to compete in the tournament.
Even though the 25-year-old Ueno won her second Japanese championship in June, the GSOC Co-op Invitational is her team's first top-tier appearance in the series.
You wouldn't know it from their start. Ueno upended world bronze medallists Team Isabella Wranå 6-1 Tuesday night and world silver medallists Team Kerri Einarson 9-4 Wednesday afternoon.
"It's been great. We're thrilled about it," said coach Bob Ursel. "One of the messages I told these girls when we started this competition before we played Wranå was that they belong here, and I think they truly do. They're a very talented young group of girls with an impressive future ahead of them.
"I'm thrilled that we're 2-0 against those two teams. It's not expected, but I'm not overly surprised either."
The Ueno sisters, Miyu and lead Yui, had played as a trio on tour for the past year with third Asuka Kanai. That led to some challenges, as Yui Ueno fell ill during last month's Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, forcing them to forfeit a match and forgo ranking points as they added Kristen Wall as a spare for the tournament.
Yui Ozeki joined the team at second ahead of last weekend's Autumn Gold Curling Classic.
"She seems to be fitting in really well, so it's nice," Ursel said. "It's nice to play with four. That's a tough grind when you're playing with three players."
With two regulation wins and six points at the halfway point of the preliminary round, Ueno isn't in the clear to make the playoffs just yet, with Team Eun-ji Gim and hometown heroes Team Taylor Reese-Hansen on tap.
Fortunately, Team Ueno has a B.C. connection, too: Ursel lives in Kelowna and represented the province three times at the Brier.
He said it's fantastic that the Grand Slam series has returned to B.C. and wished there would be more events in the province.
"It's nice, and it's good for the B.C. curling fans as well," he said. "I'm hoping that we get some good fans coming up for the weekend and the finals and stuff like that, but yeah for me, it's a thrill to be here."
Pätz, Schwaller set for showdown
Pätz and Schwaller have faced off four times in four tournaments already this season, so why not go for one more in the Grand Slams?
The top two Swiss women's squads square off Thursday afternoon in Draw 11 of the preliminary round.
Pätz has won all four matchups so far, including three finals at the Euro Super Series, Stu Sells Oakville Tankard and AMJ Shorty Jenkins Classic.
Although the Olympic cycle is young, it's already shaping up to be quite the rivalry, but for Schwaller, Thursday will be just another game.
"I try to view that game as any other, no matter if they're from our country or not," she said. "But I'm excited because usually it's a really good game against them, good curling."
Pätz is also anticipating a tough matchup.
"If you want to win against them, you always have to play well, right?" she said. "That's what we try to do. We just try to work on those small little details we're working on, and if we do that right, I think we have a good chance."
Pätz played with Silvana Tirinzoni for eight seasons, winning Olympic silver, four world championships and six Grand Slams. With Tirinzoni stepping back, Pätz has returned to skipping for the new cycle.
It seemed like the torch was passed last season when Schwaller defeated Tirinzoni in the finals of the Swiss curling championships and then went on a roll, capturing gold at the world championship.
Have the words "reigning world champion" sunk in yet?
"Yeah, it did, because here on tour, all the people come to you and congratulate you," Schwaller said. "It's a good feeling, but now also a little bit more pressure, but we like that."
Schwaller also has one title win from the KW Fall Classic plus a semifinal finish at the Autumn Gold Curling Classic this season to jump into second place in the world rankings.
"We have some things we need to work on, but it's always good to get some early points," Schwaller said. "It's going well."
Pätz, who won a world title as a skip before her tenure with Tirinzoni, isn't far back in the rankings at No. 4.
"It feels like we just started or we're just getting started. We’ve been on the ice since July, so it's quite early, but we just have to find ourselves," Pätz said. "We have to find our technique in line-calling and everything basically. We're still learning in every game.
"I think there's something good and something bad to take away in each game or something we have to work on, so it's been good so far."
Both teams hold identical 1-1 records and three points apiece. Pätz fell 8-4 to Reese-Hansen on Tuesday and recovered with an 8-3 victory against Team Giulia Zardini Lacedelli on Wednesday.
"It feels really good. We struggled a lot yesterday, so it was time to play a little better today, and we did that," Pätz said. "Just lucky. We're happy we came out with the win there."
Schwaller dropped a 5-3 decision to Team Bo-bae Kang, skipped by Kyeong-ae Kim, on Wednesday and regrouped with a wild 10-7 victory over Team Madeleine Dupont on Thursday.
Dupont scored four in the fourth end and led 7-5 after six, but Schwaller jumped ahead with a five-count in the seventh.
Coach Andi Schwaller, Xenia's dad, gave them a little pep talk to put them back on track.
"We were not too happy with how we played in the first five ends. Then we had a good talk with the coach, and he said, 'Play better, or you're going to lose it,'" Xenia said. "Then we improved."
