2024 Princess Auto Players' Championship | |
---|---|
Host city | Toronto, Ontario |
Arena | Mattamy Athletic Centre |
Dates | April 9–14 |
Men's winner | Team Gushue |
Curling club | St. John's CC, St. John's |
Skip | Brad Gushue |
Third | Mark Nichols |
Second | E. J. Harnden |
Lead | Geoff Walker |
Coach | Caleb Flaxey |
Finalist | Joël Retornaz |
Women's winner | Team Tirinzoni |
Curling club | CC Aarau, Aarau |
Skip | Silvana Tirinzoni |
Fourth | Alina Pätz |
Second | Selina Witschonke |
Lead | Carole Howald |
Coach | Pierre Charette |
Finalist | Isabella Wranå |
« 2023 2025 » |
The 2024 Princess Auto Players' Championship was held from April 9 to 14 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Ontario.[1] It is the fifth and final Grand Slam event of the 2023–24 curling season.
Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni rink defeated Sweden's Isabella Wranå rink the in the women's final, 6–5. It was a re-match of the 2023 Players' Championship final, in which Team Wranå was victorious. Team Tirinzoni opened up the scoring in the second end when last rock thrower Alina Pätz made a hit and stick for two. Wranå made a double in the third end to get a single, but nearly gave up a steal. Wranå missed a double in the fourth, and Pätz responded with a draw for two to take a 4–1 lead into the break. In the fifth, Wranå's last rock crashed on a guard, but rolled into the house, resulting in a score of two after a measurement. Wranå scored a steal of one in the sixth after Pätz missed a hit and roll, tying the game at four. In the seventh, Pätz made a bump of two Wranå stones that were close together, scoring two points in the process to take a 6–4 lead into the final frame. In the eighth, Wranå missed her last shot, scoring just a single point to lose the game. It was third straight Slam final for the Swiss team, after losing the previous two. It was the fourth career Slam title for Tirinzoni.[2]
In the men's final, Newfoundland and Labrador's Brad Gushue won his 15th Grand Slam title after defeating the World #1 ranked Joël Retornaz team from Italy, 7–6. Team Gushue started the game off by getting forced to a single in the first after Gushue made a hit against two Retornaz rocks which sat across the rings. Retornaz scored a deuce in the second after making a hit on his last rock, which was followed by Gushue scoring a deuce of his own in the third after making a draw for two to take a 3–2 lead. Retornaz scored another deuce in the fourth after removing a Gushue stone off the button. Gushue scored another two in the next end with another draw, to take a 5–4 lead after five. In the sixth, Retornaz attempted to make a run double on his last, but missed, giving up a steal of one, to go down 6–4. In the seventh, with the team already sitting two, Retornaz attempted a raise on a guard to get a third point, but missed. The team still scored the two points, tying the game going into the last end. In the final end, Gushue missed a runback on his first shot, allowing Retornaz to draw to sit three to make things more difficult for Gushue. Gushue did not miss his last shot however, a draw to the back four which "pinballed" off of a Retornaz stone to come to a rest, winning the game.[3]