For the second time this curling season, a Canadian men’s team has won a grand slam event. On Sunday at the Co-op Canadian Open in Camrose, Alberta, Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton, Alberta defeated Niklas Edin of Sweden 5-3 in the championship final.
Bottcher’s team that included third Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Hebert, won all six of their matches in taking the title. They defeated skips Reid Carruthers of Winnipeg, Manitoba 9-3, John Epping of Peterborough, Ontario 7-2 and American Korey Dropkin 4-2 in A Event action. In the quarterfinals, Bottcher defeated Yannick Schwaller 5-0 in the quarterfinals, and Italian Joel Retornaz 3-2 in the semifinals. In Bottcher’s win over Carruthers, he had a six-ender.
This was Bottcher’s fourth Grand Slam victory as a skip. He has previously won the 2019 Meridian Canadian Open in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, the 2019 Players’ Championship in Toronto, Ontario, and the 2019 Champions Cup in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Canadian Olympic gold medalist Brad Gushue of St. John’s, Newfoundland was the skip of the first Canadian men’s team to win a Grand Slam title this season. The gold medalist from the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, won the Boost National in October. Gushue also beat Edin in the final. The next grand slam event will be in Toronto after the World Men’s Curling Championship in Ottawa.
