Laycock advances to roars from the home crowd

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On the otherside of the spectrum Team Korte wasn’t so lucky. The other Saskatchewan team had just come off a huge win on an amazing shot by skip Bruce Korte earlier in the day. In the final game of the “C” bracket, already down 3-0, the team imploded. Korte allowed Team McEwen out of Manitoba to steal four points on a missed draw in the fourth end. Korte ultimately fell to 7-1 and the game was called after five ends.  

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Korte is the only experienced player on the team. This was the first slam for the other three players including the teams third, Kevin Marsh.

“Definitely the best curling experience of my life so far, no doubt about it,” Marsh said. “Great crowds this week, [we were] playing against the top teams. We couldn’t have asked for much more, I mean, other than a win tonight.” 

In what was a barn burner in the battle of Alberta between Team Bottcher and Koe, it was Bottcher who escaped unscathed. Bottcher had a 5-2 lead after the fifth end, but Koe was able to score two with the hammer in the sixth. The savvy veteran Bottcher took the hammer and forced two blank ends as the game finished 5-4.

Saturday’s quarter final matchups are now set with B.C’s Team Morris taking on U.S. Team Shuster, Manitoba’s team McEwen versus Ontario’s Team Jacobs, Karlstad Edin and his Swedish squad face Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher and the home town hero Steven Laycock will try to upset Newfoundland’s number one ranked Team Gushue.

Some notable teams that did not make the cut were Ontario’s Team Epping, who were the defending champions and Manitoba’s Team Carruthers, who were hot heading into the tournament. Reid Carruthers and his team had just won the Canada Cup in December to clinch an Olympic trials spot.

Notable women’s teams to miss the cut include Chelsea Carrey and her squad from Alberta, who won the Scotties last year and came in fourth in the world championships. Also missing will be Team Einarson out of Manitoba, who won the most previous Grand Slam in Sault Sainte Marie.

Greg Higgins is a reporter for battlefordsNOW. He can be reached at ghiggins@jpbg.ca or tweet him @realgreghiggins.