Brad Gushue and Tracy Fleury made it into the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam of Curling’s National event Thursday.
Gushue, a three-time Canadian men’s champion from St. John’s, N.L., scored three in the first end en route to an 8-6 win over Scotland’s Bruce Mouat to get to a record of 3-0.
Fleury of East St. Paul, Man., was also 3-0 on the women’s side following a 5-4 win over Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones.
Five-time world champion Niklas Edin of Sweden and Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni also remained unbeaten to join the Canadians in the playoffs of the $300,000, 32-team event.
Edin downed Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz 7-3 and Tirinzoni topped Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg 5-4 at the Chestermere Recreation Centre.
Teams must win three games to make the playoffs. Each loss drops a team to a lower bracket in a triple knockout format, so Jones, Hasselborg, de Cruz and Mouat all fell to the B side with 2-1 records.
Winnipeg’s Mike McEwan avoided elimination in the C bracket with a 4-1 ousting of Toronto’s John Epping to get to 1-2.
Winnipeg’s Jason Gunnlaugson also stayed in the tournament at 1-2 following a 6-4 victory over Scotland’s Ross Paterson.
Edmonton’s Laura Walker kept playoff hopes alive in the women’s C side with a 9-3 victory over Switzerland’s Irene Schori. Walker takes on reigning Canadian women’s champ Kerri Einarson on Friday.
In other games Thursday, Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa defeated South Korea’s Min-Ji Kim 6-4 in the C event to eliminate the latter from contention.
Earlier, Calgary’s Kevin Koe knocked reigning Canadian men’s champion Brendan Bottcher to the C bracket with a 6-4 win. Koe takes on de Cruz in the B event Friday.
Competition continues to Sunday.