Koe, Dunstone secure quarter-final berths at Grand Slam of Curling's National
Brad Gushue, Tracy Fleury reach quarter-finals at tournament
Calgary's Kevin Koe, Regina's Matt Dunstone and Scotland's Bruce Mouat joined Brad Gushue of St. John's N.L., and Sweden's Niklas Edin in the men's playoffs of the Grand Slam of Curling's National on Friday.
Koe advanced with a 6-5 win over Switzerland's Peter de Cruz, Dunstone downed Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont., 7-2 and Mouat thumped countryman Ross Whyte 8-2 in Friday's B-qualifiers.
The $300,00 National featuring 16 men's and 16 women's teams is a triple knockout of three brackets.
Gushue, a three-time Canadian champion, and five-time world champion Niklas Edin had already advanced out of the men's A bracket with 3-0 records at the Chestermere Recreation Centre.
Howard, de Cruz and Whyte need victories in Saturday's C bracket to avoid elimination.
Earlier, Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller ousted Winnipeg's Jason Gunnlaugson 7-6 and Winnipeg's Mike McEwen bounced defending champion Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., 4-3 in an extra end.
Winnipeg's Braden Calvert was eliminated in a 5-4 loss in an extra end to Canadian champion Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton.
Homan got by Hollie Duncan of Woodstock, Ont., 7-5 in an extra end, while Walker defeated Corryn Brown of Kamloops, B.C., 6-1 in the C bracket. Russia's Alina Kovaleva eliminated Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones 8-6.
So Homan, Walker and Kovaleva join B qualifiers Kelsey Rocque of Edmonton and Sweden's Isabella Wrana and Anna Hasselborg, as well as Tracy Fleury of East St. Paul, Man., and Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni who came out of the A bracket with 3-0 records.
Competition continues through Sunday.
Gushue, Fleury in quarter-finals
Brad Gushue and Tracy Fleury made it into the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam of Curling's National event on Thursday.
Gushue, a three-time Canadian men's champion from St. John's, N.L., scored three in the first end en route to an 8-6 win over Scotland's Bruce Mouat to get to a record of 3-0.
Five-time world champion Niklas Edin of Sweden and Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni also remained unbeaten to join the Canadians in the playoffs of the $300,000, 32-team event.
Edin downed Switzlerland's Peter de Cruz 7-3 and Tirinzoni topped Sweden's Anna Hasselborg 5-4 at the Chestermere Recreation Centre.
Teams must win three games to make the playoffs. Each loss drops a team to a lower bracket in a triple knockout format.
