By Tyler Marr

Disappointing starts for Sask. rinks in opening draw of Meridian Canadian Open

Jan 8, 2019 | 8:35 PM

The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling: Meridian Canadian Open kicked off Tuesday night with 10 of the 16 men’s rinks taking to the ice.

The match to watch, consisting of two-time Meridian Canadian Open Champion Brad Gushue — whose rink took home the title last time the event was held in North Battleford — taking on Glenn Howard’s rink, lived up to expectations. An extra end saw Howard thread their final rock to earn a single and take the win 5-4.

Both Saskatchewan teams in action, Saskatoon’s Kirk Muyres and Rylan Kleiter, despite having the crowd on their side, had less than optimal openings. 

Muyres fell 8-1 to John Epping’s rink out of Toronto in five ends. He chalked this up to “Christmas rust” and took the blame himself.

“[If] the boys keeping playing like that and putting us in good positions we will be sitting good,” he said. “It is just a matter of me bringing a little more tomorrow.”

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But like he and others have said before; it is not how you start a bonspiel, it is how you finish. 

Muyres said he and his rink learned a lot about the ice and will regroup ahead of their next action.

“It sucks but you get over it and move on and play better tomorrow,” he added.

While disappointed he couldn’t give the home town crowd more to cheer for, Muyres is eager to pull off some big shots and hear the roars over the weekend.

“This is some of the coolest stuff you can do when you have the whole crowd on your side,” he said. “That is why we play the game.”

Kleiter’s rink found themselves in a similar situation, dropping 10-1 in their opening match to Calgary’s Kevin Koe. Despite keeping it close through the first three ends, a hiccup in the forth saw Koe tally 6 points for a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

“We started off pretty good and kept it close but just missed a few key shots in that end but we learned a lot from them and how they managed their misses,” he told media after the match.

Kleiter admitted some early jitters found their way into his shots, but he was thankful to get it out of the way early.

Elsewhere on the ice, Scotland’s Bruce Mouat topped Ontario’s Scott McDonald 8-5.

Sweden’s Niklas Edin’s rink, the current reigning world champions and Olympic silver medalists, in thrilling fashion, scored a triple on their final rock to come from behind and edge a narrow 7-6 victory over Winnipeg’s Jason Gunnlaugson.

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr