ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Winnipeg’s Team Reid Carruthers, with new second Kyle Doering, kicked off the Kioti National with a 7-5 victory Tuesday morning over Team Yannick Schwaller of Switzerland.
It’s the first Grand Slam of Curling event for Team Carruthers since longtime second Derek Samagalski stepped back earlier this month. Doering, formerly of Team Aaron Sluchinski, was named Samagalski’s replacement and is also handling vice skip duties in the house.
Carruthers said there’s still a learning curve, but he’s having a blast with Doering on and off the ice.
“He brings some youth to our team, so he brings a lot of energy and he’s quite funny,” Carruthers said. “It’s probably a good thing for me, keep the mood a little lighter.”
Carruthers jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a deuce in the opening end. The teams alternated singles in two and three and Team Schwaller counted a couple in four to knot it up 3-3.
After Carruthers was forced to a single in five, Team Schwaller fourth Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel hit for two points in six to pull ahead 5-4.
Team Schwaller’s lead was short as Carruthers hit for a deuce right back in the seventh to reclaim a one-point lead.
Schwarz-van Berkel’s tap in the eighth was too soft and added a single steal to the board as Carruthers prevailed.
Carruthers said it’s very good to start the Grand Slam of Curling tournament in the win column.
“It was a crazy game, back and forth,” Carruthers said. “When we started out with a deuce, it kind of feels like you have a decent chance at winning the game, but they battled back with a really good deuce in six. In a couple of the ends, they actually had us in a lot of trouble. That’s a very good team, but we’re happy with that win.”
Yannick Schwaller is out after undergoing knee surgery. His brother, Kim Schwaller, is playing second with Sven Michel moving up to throw third stones.
Elsewhere in the opening draw, Team Bruce Mouat defeated Team James Craik 7-4 in an all-Scottish matchup.
Saskatoon’s Team Mike McEwen downed Team Michael Brunner of Switzerland 7-2 and Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte also beat Team Marco Hösli 7-2.
Round-robin play continues with Draw 2 at 11:30 a.m. NT / 10 a.m. ET at the Mary Brown’s Centre.
Broadcast coverage on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ begins Thursday at noon NT / 10:30 a.m. ET.
The Kioti National is the third Grand Slam of Curling event of the season featuring 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from around the world. … Round-robin play runs through to Friday. The top eight teams in both divisions advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals. If necessary, one tiebreaker draw will be played Saturday morning to determine the final playoff teams. … The semifinals are also scheduled for Saturday with both finals on tap Sunday.