It was an interesting Tuesday for Brendan Bottcher.
Just hours after it was announced his Edmonton rink had parted ways with third Pat Simmons, Bottcher started off the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling Meridian Canadian Open event with a 7-4 win over Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock at the Civic Centre.
“We got off to a really good start by getting three points in the first end,” Bottcher said. “Steve battled back and the game tightened up after we missed some shots in the fifth end, but I thought we did a great job of controlling things after that.
“You never want to play for measurements, but that’s what it seemed like was happening to us. We won two and lost one, so you can’t be too upset about that.”
The 2012 World Junior Champion has fellow Albertan Darren Moulding joining him this weekend at third.
“I’ve playing against Darren for a long time and he’s not only a great curler, but he’s also a great friend,” Bottcher said.
“We were looking for someone to join us on pretty short notice and we were lucky that Darren was able to get everything worked out with his family and with his day job.”
Simmons, who won the Tim Hortons Brier in 2014 with Kevin Koe and as a skip a year later, joined Bottcher this year but the team elected to part ways after the first half of the season.
“It didn’t work out like we would have wanted it to, but it was great to have Pat on board with us and he brought a lot to our team,” Bottcher said.
“We’re kind of taking things one day at a time when it comes to finding a permanent player at third. Darren’s with us this weekend, but we have to find someone for an event in Europe in a couple of weeks, and then we have to get ready for the provincials a couple of weeks after that.”
Although Laycock didn’t have the start that he wanted, the Yorkton native felt that there were some positives that he and the rest of his rink could take out of the first draw.
“We had a lot of opportunities in that game, but we just ended up on the wrong side of a few shots, which resulted in them getting points instead of us,” Laycock said.
“I think we played better than the scoreboard probably showed, but we just weren’t good enough today.”
Meanwhile, Saskatoon’s Bruce Korte almost pulled off a stunning upset as he fell to Brad Gushue in an 8-7 extra-end affair.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t quite get everything set up as well as we did in the previous end when we got a steal of one to tie it up,” Korte said.
“I like the way that we played in this game, but we got tricked a little bit out there with the ice conditions and with how the rocks reacted. We learned a lot though, and we hope to build off that during the week.”
Korte got his team to the extra end after he made a great draw on his final shot in the eighth.
“Bruce and his team played very well all game,” Gushue said. “He put his last shot in a perfect spot, which really left us in a tough situation on my last.
“We almost made that hit, but his rock stuck around for the extra, and we ended up playing really well in that end. (Lead) Geoff (Walker) made two great ticks early on and I had a pretty easy shot there on my last.”
In other men’s action, American John Shuster came away with an 8-7 extraend win over Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers, while Kingston’s Greg Balsdon won a 7-4 shootout over Toronto’s John Epping.
Tuesday’s lone women’s contest was a rematch of the Boost National final in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. last month between Silvana Tirinzoni and Kerri Einarson.
Tirinzoni Switzerland rink got a measure of revenge over Einarson’s Winnipeg foursome, as they picked up a 6-4 win.
“It’s funny that we ended up playing each other again,” Tirinzoni said. “We started off the last Grand Slam event against each other before we played in the finals, and we did it again here.
“We tired to keep the pressure on them during the entire game by putting rocks in play. We got a couple of misses from them and we were able to hold them off after getting a three-ender in the fourth.”
Cathy Overton-Clapham, who has won five Scotties Tournament of Hearts titles, is once again playing at third for the Tirinzoni rink as Manuela Siegrist is out of the lineup with a knee injury.
“She’s been great to play with,” Tirinzoni said. “It’s so easy to have her on the team and she’s able to adjust to things very quickly.
“I don’t know if I could ask for a better alternate than her.”
Play will resume Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. with five women’s games.
The marquee matchup will feature Edmonton’s Val Sweeting, who grew up in Maryfield, and Anna Sidorova of Russia.
The other contests will see Caledon, Ont.’s Alison Flaxey go up against Sudbury’s Tracy Fleury, Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg taking on China’s Bingyu Wang, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan matching up with Mississauga’s Jacqueline Harrison and Jennifer Jones facing Briane Meilleur in a battle of Winnipeg rinks.
