2023 Players' Championship
The 2023 Princess Auto Players' Championship was held from April 11 to 16 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Ontario. It was the fifth Grand Slam event and final major of the 2022–23 curling season. In the women's final, Sweden's Isabella Wranå won her first Slam title, defeating the World Champion Silvana Tirinzoni rink from Switzerland 6–5. In the game, Wranå took a commanding lead in the fourth end, making an open hit for three to take a 4–1 lead. Tirinzoni scored a single in the fifth, but Wranå replied by getting a deuce in the sixth. The Tirinzoni rink had a chance to score three in the seventh to even the gap, but fourth thrower Alina Pätz missed a split attempt, but did end up getting two, as at least her shooter rolled in the house to score. In the final end, Wranå only had to hit one Tirinzoni rock on her last to win the title. In the men's final, Calgary's Kevin Koe rink, defeated Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller team 5–4, giving Koe's f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor of the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration of 9,765,188 people (as of 2021) surrounding the western end of Lake Ontario, while the Greater Toronto Area proper had a 2021 population of 6,712,341. Toronto is an international centre of business, finance, arts, sports and culture, and is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world. Indigenous peoples have travelled through and inhabited the Toronto area, located on a broad sloping plateau interspersed with rivers, deep ravines, and urban forest, for more than 10,000 years. After the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase, when the Mississauga surrendered the area to the British Crown, the British established the town of York in 1793 and later designat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2022 Players' Championship
The 2022 Players' Championship, Princess Auto Players' Championship was held April 12–17 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Ontario. It was the fourth Grand Slam of Curling, Grand Slam and final major of the 2021–22 curling season, following the cancellation of the Open (curling), Meridian Open. Despite feeling ill in the final due to food poisioning, Anna Hasselborg led her team to their seventh Grand Slam title, and completed a career Grand Slam, becoming the first women's team to do so. Qualification The top 16 ranked men's and women's teams on the World Curling Federation's world team rankings qualified for the event. In the event that a team declines their invitation, the next-ranked team on the world team ranking is invited until the field is complete. Men Top world team ranking men's teams: # Brad Gushue # Bruce Mouat # Kevin Koe # Niklas Edin # Brad Jacobs (curler), Brad Jacobs # Glenn Howard # Matt Dunstone # Colton Flasch # Brendan Bottcher # Jason Gunnlau ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brendan Bottcher
Brendan Michael Bottcher (born December 19, 1991) is a Canadian curler from Sherwood Park, Alberta. Bottcher is a three-time provincial men's champion, and was the skip of the 2021 Canadian men's championship team, having led Alberta to victory at the 2021 Tim Hortons Brier. Born in Sherwood Park, Alberta, Bottcher enjoyed a successful junior career winning the 2012 Canadian Junior Curling Championships and the 2012 World Junior Curling Championships. He was also the 2010 Alberta junior men's champion and the 2007 Alberta juvenile provincial finalist. Bottcher skips his own team out of the Saville Sports Centre in Edmonton. Career Junior career In the 2009–2010 season, with Brad Thiessen at third, Landon Bucholz at second, Bryce Bucholz at lead, and Bernie Panich as their coach, they had much success winning four junior bonspiels and being a runner-up in another. In the Edmonton Men's Super-League, they posted a .500 record. In a few exhibition games throughout the seas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joël Retornaz
Joël Thierry Retornaz (born 30 September 1983 in Chêne-Bougeries, Genève, Switzerland) is an Italian curler from Cembra. He was the skip of the Italian men's Olympic curling team in 2006, 2018, and 2022. Retornaz gained sudden renown in Italy during the 2006 Winter Olympics. Although Italy has little curling tradition, and the sport was practiced only by a few hundred amateurs, Retornaz led the semi-professional Italian team to several unexpected victories over strong teams, including Canada. This breakthrough inspired a sudden national curiosity for curling, previously almost unknown in Italy. Retornaz returned to the Olympics in 2018, skipping the Italians again while throwing third rocks. The team finished 9th with a 3-6 record. The team finished 3–6 again at the 2022 Olympics, placing 9th again. Retornaz has represented Italy in eight World Curling Championships, in 2005, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022, skipping the team in each event except 2005. Their ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Matt Dunstone
Matthew Dunstone, nicknamed "the Sheriff" (born June 25, 1995) is a Canadian curler from Kamloops, British Columbia. Career Dunstone won the Canadian Junior Curling Championships in 2013. He represented Canada at the 2013 World Junior Curling Championships, where he won the bronze medal. He was unable to defend his championship at the 2014 Canadian Juniors after losing in the finals of the Manitoba Canola Juniors to Braden Calvert. The next time he would represent Manitoba was in 2016, after winning the 2016 Manitoba Canola Juniors. This earned the Dunstone rink a spot in the 2016 Canadian Juniors where he won his second title after defeating Northern Ontario 11-4 in the final, and represented Canada at the 2016 World Junior Curling Championships, winning a bronze medal. Dunstone joined the Saskatchewan-based Steve Laycock rink for the 2017-18 curling season, initially as second, but later in the season began throwing fourth stones, while Laycock skipped and threw third. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Niklas Edin
Johan Niklas Edin (born 6 July 1985) is a Swedish curler. He currently resides in Karlstad, which has been his curling home base since 2008. He holds several sport distinctions. He is the first and the only skip in World Curling Federation (WCF) history to win three Olympic medals – gold (2022), silver (2018), and bronze (2014) – and to skip men's curling teams to six World Men's Curling Championship medals (2013, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022). He is also a seven-time European Curling Championship titleholder (2009, 2012, 2014–2017, 2019) and also won three silver medals in those championships (2011, 2018, 2021). He is currently tied with Oskar Eriksson in first place on the WCF-recognized list of championship medals, with thirty-eight in total. He reached the playoffs in thirty-seven Grand Slam of Curling events and won the Pinty's Cup with his current teammates, Oskar Eriksson, Rasmus Wranå, and Christopher Sundgren. With the same lineup in 2022, Edin and his teammates a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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World Curling Federation
The World Curling Federation (WCF) is the world governing body for curling accreditation, with offices in Perth, Scotland. It was formed out of the International Curling Federation (ICF), when the push for Olympic Winter Sport status was made. The name was changed in 1990. The ICF was initially formed in 1966 as a committee of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club in Perth after the success of the Scotch Cup series of world championships held between Canada and Scotland. At the outset, it comprised the associations of Scotland, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, and the United States. In the wake of its formation, it sanctioned the World Curling Championships. The WCF currently sanctions 15 international curling events (see below). The WCF is managed by eight Board Directors, one president, three vice-presidents (one from each WCF regional zone - Americas, Europe, Pacific-Asia) and six Board Directors. The six Board Directors must all come from different member associations. All po ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Second (curling)
In curling, the second is the person who delivers the second pair of stones. On most teams, where the second does not act as skip or vice, the second will sweep for each of their teammates. Due to the free-guard-zone rule, which prevents guards from being removed from play by the lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...s, the second is usually a curler with a high degree of proficiency throwing takeouts, peels, and other power shots. Following the adoption of the 5 rock rule in 2018, the role of the second has become more of a finesse role, as seconds often have to throw guards and other finesse shots. References Curling terminology {{curling-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brad Gushue
Bradley Raymond Gushue, ONL ( ; born June 16, 1980) is a Canadian curler from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Gushue, along with teammates Russ Howard, Mark Nichols, Jamie Korab and Mike Adam, represented Canada in curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics, where they won the gold medal by defeating Finland 10–4. He also represented Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics, where he won a bronze medal. In addition to the Olympics, Gushue won the 2017 World Men's Curling Championship with teammates Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant, and Geoff Walker. He is a four-time Brier champion, having won in 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2022, all with Nichols, Gallant and Walker. Their win in 2017 was Newfoundland and Labrador's first Brier title in 41 years. At the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier, Gushue set a new record for Brier game wins as a skip, breaking a three-way tie with previous record-holders Russ Howard and Kevin Martin. Career Gushue is a six-time (1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001) provincia ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Benoît Schwarz
Benoît François Dominique Schwarz (born 19 August 1991) is a Swiss curler. He currently throws fourth stones for the Peter de Cruz rink. He won gold medal with the Swiss team at the 2013 European Curling Championships in Stavanger and a bronze medal at the 2014 World Men's Curling Championship in Beijing. He competed at the 2012 and 2013 World Curling Championships, and at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi as an alternate. In 2017, he earned a bronze medal at the 2017 World Men's Curling Championship in Edmonton, Canada. He was the team member of Swiss Curling team in 2018 Winter Olympics. Personal life As of 2020, Schwarz was a business administration student. He lives in Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 .... References External links * 1991 births ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Skip (curling)
In the sport of curling, the skip is the captain of a team. The skip determines strategy, and holds the broom in the ''house'' (target area) to indicate where a teammate at the other end of the curling ''sheet'' (playing area) should aim the stone. The skip usually throws the last two stones in the fourth position, but may play in any other position. Sometimes "skipper" is used; it can also be abbreviated as "S". It's also used as a verb ("skips", "skipped", "skipping"). It is conventional to identify a team by the name of the skip. Responsibilities Overall, the skip leads the team and provides strategic direction. The skip calls shots teammates to play, through verbal direction and physical gestures. In many cases, skips communicate the planned trajectory of the shot by tapping their broom on the ice, and motion to other stones in the playing area if those are involved in the planned shot. The skip usually determines the required weight, turn, and line of the stone, and holds ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alina Pätz
Alina Pätz (born 8 March 1990 in Urdorf, Switzerland) is a Swiss curler. She currently throws fourth stones on Team Silvana Tirinzoni. She is a five-time world champion and was the alternate player for the Mirjam Ott rink, which represented Switzerland at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Career Playing as the alternate for the Ott rink, Pätz won a gold medal at the 2012 World Women's Curling Championship and a bronze medal at the 2013 European Curling Championships. Pätz also won a silver medal at the 2010 European Mixed Curling Championship (playing lead for Claudio Pätz) and a gold medal at the 2011 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship (with Sven Michel). Pätz started skipping her own rink in 2013. The 2014–15 season was a breakthrough year for Pätz and teammates Nadine Lehmann, Marisa Winkelhausen and Nicole Schwägli. They won the 2014 Red Deer Curling Classic on the World Curling Tour, which was Pätz's first tour win. Pätz also qualified for the playoffs at th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |