A curling veteran and an Olympic gold medalist now rule curling in Chatham-Kent.
Women's and men's finals took place Sunday afternoon at the Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling's inaugural event of the season, the Princess Auto Elite 10, held at the St. Clair College Thames Campus Arena.
The finals were familiar territory for Newfoundland and Labrador skip Brad Gushue. He and his team, consisting of Brett Gallant, Mark Nichols and Geoff Walker walked off the sheet with the tournament men's title, defeating Winnipeg skip Reid Carruthers and his team, Colin Hodgson, Mike McEwen and Derek Samagalski. It was the 11th Grand Slam of Curling championship in Gushue's career.
Gushue told reporters after the match that the camaraderie his team had with each other made the difference as they progressed through the tournament.
"I love curling with these guys," said Gushue. "We have a ton of fun out there, we're joking around, we're ribbing each other. It's fun, and I think the fact we have this much fun is that it keeps us loose in big moments such as this and allows to us to perform the way we have."
The Princess Auto Elite 10 event also marked the first time a Swedish women's team was crowned champion. Anna Hasselborg was skip of that squad, who beat Swiss skip Silvana Tirinzoni in the women's championship earlier Sunday. Hasselborg won the Olympic gold medal for Sweden in team curling at this year's Winter Games in South Korea, and took the Elite 10 title with teammates Sara McManus, Agnes Knochenhauer and Sofia Mabergs. Tirizoni's team was made up of Alina Paetz, Esther Neuenschwander and Melanie Berbezat.
The tournament was well-attended throughout the week, and Gushue had nothing but praise for the fans, the volunteers and the municipality.
"They did a great job. The volunteers here were awesome. They were so friendly and so helpful," said Gushue. "The crowds here were great all week. I was very, very impressed with how Chatham-Kent pulled off this event."
---with files from Angelica Haggert---
