NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. — Italy’s Joël Retornaz edged Canada’s Brendan Bottcher 4-3 in an extra end to win the HearingLife Tour Challenge men’s championship Sunday at the Gale Centre.
It’s the second Grand Slam of Curling title for the Trentino-based quartet of Retornaz, third Amos Mosaner, second Sebastiano Arman and lead Mattia Giovanella after earning their first less than a year ago at the WFG Masters.
Team Retornaz qualified for the playoffs as the No. 1 seed with a 3-1 record, defeated Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin 6-2 in the quarterfinals and doubled up on Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte 6-3 in the semifinals.
Retornaz and his crew, who curled 94 per cent in the final, needed a clutch draw to the button from their skip while facing three counters in the opening frame to score a single.
Bottcher also had to draw against three for his first point in the fourth.
Retornaz, who never trailed in the match, made another sharp shot in the fifth that stopped in time at the back of the four-foot circle to retake the lead.
Bottcher, whose team curled 87 per cent, blanked the sixth end but wrecked on a guard in the seventh to give up a steal and fall behind 3-1. The five-time Grand Slam champion bounced back in the eighth end with just enough room to bump and unlock Retornaz’s rock to count the equalizing two points that forced the extra end.
Retornaz took on a risky double takeout with his last shot in OT and pulled it off for the big prize.
Meanwhile, Team Daniel Casper of the United States beat Japan’s Team Yusuke Morozumi 6-2 to win the HearingLife Tour Challenge Tier 2 men’s title.
Casper earned a berth to join the top teams in the world for the Co-op Canadian Open, Jan. 16-21, in Red Deer, Alta.
Earlier, Team Jennifer Jones defeated Team Kaitlyn Lawes 7-4 in an all-Canadian final to win the HearingLife Tour Challenge women’s championship.
South Korea’s Team Eun-Jung Kim topped Denmark’s Team Madeleine Dupont by an identical score in the Tier 2 final and also earned a spot in the Co-op Canadian Open.
UP NEXT
The Grand Slam of Curling season continues with the KIOTI National, Nov. 7-12, at the Pictou County Wellness Centre in Pictou County, N.S.
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