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鈥檚 Grand Slam of Curling Meridian Canadian Open event with a 7-4 win over Saskatoon鈥檚 Steve Laycock at the Civic Centre.
鈥淲e got off to a really good start by getting three points in the first end,鈥� Bottcher said. 鈥淪teve 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.
鈥淵ou never want to play for measurements, but that鈥檚 what it seemed like was happening to us. We won two and lost one, so you can鈥檛 be too upset about that.鈥�
The 2012 World Junior Champion has fellow Albertan Darren Moulding joining him this weekend at third.
鈥淚鈥檝e playing against Darren for a long time and he鈥檚 not only a great curler, but he鈥檚 also a great friend,鈥� Bottcher said.
鈥淲e 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.鈥�
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.
鈥淚t didn鈥檛 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,鈥� Bottcher said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e kind of taking things one day at a time when it comes to finding a permanent player at third. Darren鈥檚 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.鈥�
Although Laycock didn鈥檛 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.
鈥淲e 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,鈥� Laycock said.
鈥淚 think we played better than the scoreboard probably showed, but we just weren鈥檛 good enough today.鈥�
Meanwhile, Saskatoon鈥檚 Bruce Korte almost pulled off a stunning upset as he fell to Brad Gushue in an 8-7 extra-end affair.
鈥淯nfortunately, we didn鈥檛 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,鈥� Korte said.
鈥淚 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.鈥�
Korte got his team to the extra end after he made a great draw on his final shot in the eighth.
鈥淏ruce and his team played very well all game,鈥� Gushue said. 鈥淗e put his last shot in a perfect spot, which really left us in a tough situation on my last.
鈥淲e 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.鈥�
In other men鈥檚 action, American John Shuster came away with an 8-7 extraend win over Winnipeg鈥檚 Reid Carruthers, while Kingston鈥檚 Greg Balsdon won a 7-4 shootout over Toronto鈥檚 John Epping.
Tuesday鈥檚 lone women鈥檚 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鈥檚 Winnipeg foursome, as they picked up a 6-4 win.
鈥淚t鈥檚 funny that we ended up playing each other again,鈥� Tirinzoni said. 鈥淲e started off the last Grand Slam event against each other before we played in the finals, and we did it again here.
鈥淲e 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.鈥�
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.
鈥淪he鈥檚 been great to play with,鈥� Tirinzoni said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so easy to have her on the team and she鈥檚 able to adjust to things very quickly.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if I could ask for a better alternate than her.鈥�
Play will resume Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. with five women鈥檚 games.
The marquee matchup will feature Edmonton鈥檚 Val Sweeting, who grew up in Maryfield, and Anna Sidorova of Russia.
The other contests will see Caledon, Ont.鈥檚 Alison Flaxey go up against Sudbury鈥檚 Tracy Fleury, Sweden鈥檚 Anna Hasselborg taking on China鈥檚 Bingyu Wang, Ottawa鈥檚 Rachel Homan matching up with Mississauga鈥檚 Jacqueline Harrison and Jennifer Jones facing Briane Meilleur in a battle of Winnipeg rinks.
