(by Jonathan Brazeau)
TRURO, N.S. — Reigning Brier champion Pat Simmons won his Pinty’s GSOC season debut with a 7-3 victory over Shawn Adams in the opening draw of the Masters on Tuesday night.
Things did not start out right for Team Simmons as they trailed 2-1 through two ends of play. Simmons attempted an angle raise to bump out Adams’s shot stone in the second, but he wasn’t able to knock it off the button. Adams, of Halifax, capitalized with his last rock to get the deuce.
Simmons rebounded grabbing a point in the third and stole one in the fourth to go up 3-2 at the break. Adams got one in the fifth to tie it back up, but Simmons countered with a single in six and stole a point in seven.
Team Simmons, of Calgary, added another steal taking two in the eighth to ice the match.
Lead Nolan Thiessen admitted the team got out to a slow start in the game.
“They made a couple of really good ones to force us, then made a nice shot and they got a deuce there,” Thiessen said. “We struggled a little bit early there but kept plugging away and found a way to make a few more shots in the second half and get the win.”
Team Simmons were absent from the past three Pinty’s GSOC events. The team did not qualify for the Syncrude Elite 10 and the Players’ Championship last year and skipped the season-opening Tour Challenge. Thiessen said they love competing in these events and it’s great to be back.
“It’s the best teams, it’s amazing ice, and it’s a true test of where you’re at as a team so we were excited to get out here and really see where we’re at,” Thiessen said. “Hopefully we can win a few games at the Slams unlike last year so we can stick around for the whole year.”
Team Simmons plan to donate a portion of their Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling prize money this season to Wounded Warriors Canada.
Elsewhere in men’s action, Brad Gushue of St. John’s scored a 4-2 victory over Toronto’s John Epping. Team Gushue, who have won four titles on tour this season, were forced to a single in the second but doubled their lead stealing a point in the third. Epping was held to one in the fourth and Gushue countered in five and stole again in six to go ahead 4-1. Team Epping got another single in seven.
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Meanwhile in the women’s division, Kerri Einarson of Winnipeg stunned Scotland’s Eve Muirhead with a 7-6 victory. Einarson trailed 3-0 after two ends and bounced back with a deuce in three and a steal of two in four. Muirhead, the reigning Rogers Grand Slam Cup champion, was held to one in the fifth and Einarson added a three-ender in six to regain the lead 7-4. Team Muirhead got points in seven and eight but Einarson prevailed.
Team Einarson qualified for the Masters after winning the Tour Challenge Tier 2 in September.
Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland held on for a 7-6 win over Margaretha Sigfridsson of Sweden. Tirizoni, the Tour Challenge Tier 1 winner, erased a three-point deficit and jumped ahead scoring four in the third, stealing two in the fourth and one in the fifth to lead 7-3. Sigfridsson almost came back with a point in six and single steals in seven and eight.
Two-time world champion Mary-Anne Arsenault of Halifax scored one in the seventh and stole a point in eight to lift her team to a 5-3 win over Russia’s Anna Sidorova.
NOTES: The Masters is the second stop on the seven-event 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule and runs through to Sunday at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre. … Action continues Wednesday morning with Draw 2 starting at 8:30 a.m. AT. … Tracy Fleury will be taking over the @grandslamcurl Twitter account Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. AT. Click here for more info. … TV coverage of the Masters begins Thursday at 12 Noon AT on Sportsnet.