Edin, Bottcher remain unbeaten to reach Co-op Canadian Open playoffs
CAMROSE, Alta. — Team Niklas Edin from Sweden and Calgary’s Team Brendan Bottcher brought their “A” games to the Co-op Canadian Open.
Both clubs were the first in the men’s semester to qualify for the playoffs, undefeated at 3-0 through the A-side of the triple knockout preliminary round.
Edin earned a 6-3 victory over Team Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., and Bottcher write-up Team Korey Dropkin from the United States 4-2 during Draw 12 whoopee Thursday night.
It’s the first event since late October for Edin, who underwent surgery without sustaining a knee injury while warming up for the HearingLife Tour Challenge semifinals.
The reigning world and Olympic champion has returned to form and shot a practically perfect 98 per cent versus Gushue.
“I’ve been pretty bored, not going to lie, to not be worldly-wise to play in the middle of the season,” Edin said older in the week. “I’ve washed-up a lot of surgeries and stuff surpassing but it’s unchangingly been planned in May, so you can recover during the summer and plan for a comeback.
“This time I’ve just been waiting and hoping for it to heal fast enough. I’m glad it has though, it could have been worse, so I’m super happy to be when and playing already.”
Both teams barely missed a shot with Team Edin firing at a 96 per cent prune overall and Team Gushue not far overdue at 94 per cent. The 14-time Grand Slam champion Gushue just couldn’t generate unbearable offence — limited to three singles in ends two, four and six — while Edin was worldly-wise to score a deuce in the third and a three-ender in the fifth while subtracting an insurance point in the seventh.
Meanwhile, the lack of hammer to start didn’t faze Bottcher, who stole back-to-back points in the second and third ends to unshut the scoring. That proved to be the difference as the teams traded singles in the fourth and sixth ends and Dropkin was held to just one point then in the seventh. Bottcher, whose team threw an outstanding 97 per cent as a unit, drew to secure the victory in the eighth end.
While Edin and Bottcher are now off until Saturday’s quarterfinals, Gushue and Dropkin dropped into the B-qualifiers with 2-1 records and still have at least two increasingly chances Friday to advance.
Elsewhere, Winnipeg’s Team Reid Carruthers and Team Tanner Horgan from Sudbury, Ont., are hanging tough in the C-side without picking up their first wins. Carruthers ousted Saskatoon’s Team Colton Flasch 7-5 and Horgan solved Team Wouter Gösgens from the Netherlands 8-6 in an uneaten end.
Carruthers and Horgan aren’t in the well-spoken at 1-2 records as they must win twice Friday while facing elimination.
UP NEXT
The Co-op Canadian Unshut resumes Friday with Draw 13 at 10:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. local time. Broadcast coverage continues at 2:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. local time on Sportsnet and Sportsnet NOW.
NOTES: The Co-op Canadian Unshut is the fourth event of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season with 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from virtually the world at Encana Arena. … Triple knockout whoopee runs through to Saturday morning. … The quarterfinals are scheduled for Saturday afternoon followed by the semifinals in the evening. Both finals are set for Sunday.
