Grand Slam of Curling: Players to watch
New season begins this week with Masters tournament
The 2016-17 Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling season gets rolling Tuesday night with the world's top men's and women's teams competing at the WFG Masters event in Okotoks, Alta.
Watch the men's quarter-finals live Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on CBC Television and CBCSports.ca, and catch the men's final live Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on CBC TV and CBCSports.ca.
Although rule changes have dominated the curling headlines leading up, the Grand Slam season will put the spotlight where it belongs: on the ice.
Let's take a look at the men's and women's teams to watch this season as the road to qualifying for the 2018 Winter Olympics continues.
Homan ready to build off historic season
Ottawa's Rachel Homan dominated the women's Grand Slams last season, winning three straight majors — the Masters, the National and the Canadian Open — and taking the Grand Slam Cup, awarded to the season's top rink.
She also made headlines by skipping her team to a victory in a matchup against Charley Thomas's men's team at the Elite 10 event.
The two-time Scotties champ has won the Masters in three of the last four years.
Other women's teams to watch
Val Sweeting's squad is coming off a breakout Grand Slam season in which they reached the final at the Masters, the semis at the National, and the quarter-finals at the Canadian Open, the Players' Championship and the Champions Cup. The two-time Scotties runner-up also skipped her Edmonton-based team to a second-place finish in the Grand Slam Cup standings.
Calgary's Chelsea Carey made her mark by winning her first Scotties title in thrilling fashion last February. The daughter of 1992 Canadian men's champion third Dan Carey earned her best Grand Slam result of the season at the Canadian Open, where she was shut out in the semis by Homan.
2014 Olympic gold medallist Jennifer Jones will look to build off her season-ending victory over Homan at the Humpty's Champions Cup. That win capped a season in which Jones lost in the final of the Canadian Open and the Players' Championship.
Scotland's Eve Muirhead also promises to be a threat. After defeating Jones to win the Players' Championship last April, the former world champion will be receiving a boost as third Anna Sloan makes her return after missing time due to a knee injury.
Gushue injured
On the men's side, 2015-16 Grand Slam Cup winner Brad Gushue enters the season needing help from his teammates.
The 2006 Olympic gold medallist has been out with a hip/groin injury, leaving Mark Nichols to handle skip duties. Nichols led the rink to a victory at the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard earlier this month.
Gushue's team won three Grand Slam events last season and reached the final in two others.
According to a Canadian Press report on Wednesday, Gushue will throw stones for the first time next week and hopes to return for the Tour Challenge beginning on Nov. 13.
"If I can get out there and curl with little or no pain, then I know I'm probably a few weeks away and maybe it's just a matter of building up the strength," Gushue said. "But if I get out there and there is still some pain, then probably I'll shut it down until Christmas time if I have to be quite honest."
Other men's teams to watch
Reigning world champion Kevin Koe, who beat Gushue in the final of the Tour Challenge and later the Brier, is always a threat.
Brad Jacobs's and Mike McEwen's rinks also have the ability to contend at any championship.
Jacobs was the 2014 Olympic gold medallist and also the 2014-15 Grand Slam Cup champion. His team picked up a recent victory at the College Clean Restoration Curling Classic in Saskatoon.
McEwen is the defending Masters champion.
