CHARLOTTETOWN — Winnipeg’s Team Matt Dunstone put the brakes on Saskatoon’s Team Mike McEwen 6-5 Tuesday night to start in the win column in the HearingLife Tour Challenge at the Bell Aliant Centre.
The first Grand Slam of Curling event of the season features triple knockout brackets where teams must win three games before they lose three to qualify for the playoffs.
Dunstone will continue through the A Event and face Team Joël Retornaz on Wednesday while McEwen, who had a 13-game winning streak snapped, drops into the B Event against Team Korey Dropkin.
Dunstone opened with the hammer but was forced to settle for a single in the second. After alternating pairs of points, McEwen’s last in the fifth went through the house untouched as Dunstone stole a point to hold a 4-2 lead.
It looked like Dunstone had an opportunity to put pressure on McEwen in the sixth and possibly sit four, however, he ticked a guard allowing McEwen to draw for two and tie it up.
Dunstone took two back in the seventh to re-establish the lead. McEwen had a chance to draw for two in the eighth and force an extra end, but his shooter made contact with his other stone and pushed it too far to only count one.
Team Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., edged Switzerland’s Team Michael Brunner 7-6 in an extra end.
Gushue will go up against Team Niklas Edin of Sweden in a rematch of last season’s world championship final. Brunner next plays Winnipeg’s Team Reid Carruthers.
In the women’s division, Team Tabitha Peterson of the United States scored two in the seventh and stole three in the eighth to defeat Winnipeg’s Team Chelsea Carey 9-6.
Both Tabitha and Tara Peterson are away on maternity leave with third Cory Thiesse skipping and alternate Vicky Persinger plus Aileen Geving drawing into the lineup.
Team Carey is without second Emily Zacharias and playing as three.
Team Peterson moves on to play Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa with Carey dropping down to face Team Anna Hasselborg of Sweden.
Team Eun-ji Gim of South Korea avoided an upset to beat Edmonton’s Team Selena Sturmay 8-7 in an extra end. Gim was up 6-2 after five ends but gave up a steal of two in the sixth and settled for a single in the seventh before Sturmay scored an equalizing three-ender in the eighth to force OT.
Gim goes up against Switzerland’s Team Xenia Schwaller next while Sturmay meets Sweden’s Team Isabella Wranå.
UP NEXT
The HearingLife Tour Challenge resumes Wednesday with Draw 5 at 8:30 a.m. AT / 7:30 a.m. ET.
Broadcast coverage on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ begins Thursday at 12 p.m. AT / 11 a.m. ET.
NOTES
The HearingLife Tour Challenge features a total of 64 men’s and women’s teams from around the world split into two tiers. … Winners of the Tier 2 receive invitations to the WFG Masters in January. … Eight teams in each division advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals. … The semifinals are also set for Saturday with the finals scheduled for Sunday.