Mark Nichols, Team Gushue to face Brad Jacobs at Masters Grand Slam of Curling
Watch live coverage of quarter-finals at 1 p.m. ET on CBC TV, CBCSports.ca
Skip Mark Nichols and Team Gushue will face the reigning Olympic champion rink of Brad Jacobs in the quarter-finals of the Masters Grand Slam of Curling tournament on Saturday in Okotoks, Alta.
You can watch that match live on CBC TV and CBCSports.ca at 1 p.m. ET.
Nichols, who is filling in for Brad Gushue while he recovers from hip surgery, downed Team Jacobs, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., 5-4 on Thursday with a point in the eighth end in Draw 7.
Saskatoon's Steve Laycock heads into the quarter-finals as the only undefeated skip. Laycock finished round-robin play on Friday with a 4-0 record and will face Scotland's David Murdoch in Saturday's quarters.
Calgary's Kevin Koe (2-2) could have eliminated Murdoch (2-2) and taken his spot in the final eight with a victory Friday night, but fell 7-3 to the Scot in the final preliminary-round draw.
Toronto's John Epping, Winnipeg's Reid Carruthers, Sweden's Niklas Edin and Winnipeg's Mike McEwen all advanced to the quarters with 3-1 records.
On the women's side, Rachel Homan advanced to the playoff round with a 7-5 victory over Scotland's Eve Muirhead.
Team Homan improved to 3-1 and eliminated the 1-3 Scottish squad from the tournament with the victory.
In other Draw 12 women's action, Winnipeg's Kerri Einarson (2-2) topped Edmonton native Val Sweeting (0-4) with a 6-3 victory.
Kim, Hasselborg dominant
South Korea's EunJung Kim and Sweden's Anna Hasselborg finished atop the women's standings with 4-0 records.
Kim will have to wait to find out her opponent, as she will play the winner of Saturday's tiebreaker between Winnipeg's Kerri Einarson and Allison Flaxey of Caledon, Ont. Einarson and Flaxey both finished 2-2.
Hasselborg will play Calgary's Chelsea Carey (2-2).
Ottawa's Homan (3-1) faces Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones (2-2) while the final quarter-final draw is Swiss matchup between Binia Feltscher and Silvana Tirinzoni. Both skips finished 3-1.
The finals are scheduled for Sunday. The event features a combined purse of $250,000.
Watch the quarter-finals on CBC
The men's quarter-final begins on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on CBC TV and CBCSports.ca. The following men's matchups will take place Saturday:
- Team Laycock vs. Team Murdoch
- Team Nichols vs. Team Jacobs
- Team Epping vs. Team Edin
- Team Carruthers vs. Team McEwen
Here is how the quarter-finals will play out tomorrow on the women's side.
- Team Feltscher vs. Team Tirinzoni
- Team Hasselborg vs. Team Carey
- Team Jones vs. Team Homan
Caledon, Ont. native Allison Flaxey takes on Kerri Einarson of Winnipeg in a tiebreaker on Saturday. The winner will face Team Kim in the quarter-finals.
With files from the Canadian Press