The third stop in the Grand Slam of Curling, the Canadian Open, will take place from December 9-14 right here in Yorkton.
But with it being the third stop, that means there have already been two other ones! So what exactly happened in both The Masters and The National?
Well, first off Yorkton's own Steven Laycock has represented the province of Saskatchewan extremely well, finishing tied atop Pool A standings with Kevin Koe at The Masters and tied atop the Pool C standings with three other rinks (Heath McCormick, Mike McEwen and John Morris) at The National.
However in both tournaments Laycock was ousted in the playoffs by the McEwen rink, losing 9-3 in seven ends at The Masters and 5-4 in eight ends at The National. Both times the McEwen rink went on to the final game of the tournament, losing to Newfoundland's Brad Gushue at The Masters 8-6 and defeating Ontario's Brad Jacobs 5-2 at The National.
The two finals appearances mean that McEwen and company sit in first place in the Grand Slam Bonus Standings with 21 points while Brad Jacobs is second with 16 and Brad Gushue is third with 14.
Yorkton's Laycock is fourth overall with 10 points.
On the ladies' side of things, Edmonton's Valerie Sweeting took first place honours at The Masters by defeating Skelleftea, Sweden's Margaretha Sigfridsson 5-4 in the final.
The win means Sweeting sits in first place with 12 points, while Sigfridsson is second with nine. However the Swedish rink won't be attending the Canadian Open in Yorkton, leaving the door wide open for the two teams currently tied for third, Ottawa's Rachel Homan and Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones (the latter just happens to be the defending Olympic gold medalist).
Games to watch
The setup for the Canadian Open isn't the same as it was for the previous two tournaments. There aren't any pools. Instead, it's a triple knockout tournament.
However there are some very good matchups in the first couple of days. Let's start with the local boy. Steven Laycock will take on Sweden's Niklas Edin at 7:00p.m. on Tuesday, December 9. This won't be the first time that the two rinks will do battle during the Grand Slam however, as Laycock has previously beaten Edin 6-5 in Draw Three at The Masters, coming from behind to score five points in the final four ends for the win.
Edin will definitely be looking for revenge, but Laycock will most likely have the hometown crowd behind him. But will the wave of emotion he will no doubt feel propel him to victory? Or will it break over Laycock, causing him to lose concentration? Who knows, the only thing for sure is that the atmosphere and electricity for this one should be off the charts.
The other men's game that should be one to watch will see Brad Jacobs take on Edmonton's Brendan Bottcher.
The two have faced off earlier in The National where the Bottcher Express, after going 4-1 in Pool play and advancing to the semi-finals, was humbled by the Jacobs rink in an 8-2 six end drubbing.
The younger Bottcher will no doubt be stinging from his previous loss; a loss that will no doubt fuel him towards redemption against Jacobs. The game will be played on Wednesday, December 10 at 1:00p.m.
Now on to the women. One game that everyone should watch sees Saskatchewan's own Chantelle Eberle (Regina, SK) take on the lasses from Scotland, also known as the Eve Muirhead rink.
Eberle will be making her 2014 debut on the Grand Slam tour, however she'll have the home crowd behind her which, combined with her skill, might just prove to be dangerous.
Muirhead, meanwhile, is the bronze medalist from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and has won 11 different gold medals in various international competitions. However she'll also be looking to rebound after a less than stellar performance at The Masters where she finished 1-3 after Pool C play and failed to qualify for playoffs. Eberle will take on Muirhead on Tuesday, December 9 at 7:00p.m.
The final "game to watch" in the opening days pits the 2014 Olympic Gold medalist Jennifer Jones rink against the up-and-coming Nina Roth rink out of Madison, Wisconsin.
This game is a rematch of the 2014 Canad Inns Women's Classic quarter-final game in which Jones lambasted the young American 9-3. However Roth has been working hard to make sure that something like that never happens again.
And as the Jones rink are the defending Olympic champions, every team at the tournament will be aiming to take them down.
