Finalists determined for Grand Slam

Heading into the final day of action, the finalists have been determined for the National, the third event on the Grand Slam of Curling schedule, being held this week at the Essar Centre.

The men’s final will see Bruce Mouat of Edinburgh, Scotland face Chang-Min Kim of Uiseong, South Korea while in the women’s championship Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta. will meet Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg.

Mouat beat Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen 6-4 in one semifinal while Kim beat Toronto’s John Epping 9-7 in an extra end in the other.

While tied at two, Mouat scored three in the fourth end before stealing one more in the fifth to take the lead. McEwen would make things close with a single in the sixth and a steal of one in the seventh.

In the other men’s semifinal, after scoring three in the eighth to force the extra end, Kim would steal a pair in the extra after Epping missed a runback with his final shot, giving Kim the steal and the spot in the final.

On the women’s side, Scheidegger defeated Sudbury’s Tracy Fleury 7-4 in Saturday’s semifinal action. With the game tied at three through four ends, Scheidegger would take the lead with one in the fourth end before stealing a pair in the fifth to take the lead for good.

Jones advanced to the final thanks to a 6-5 semifinal win over Chelsea Carey of Calgary. A draw by Jones in the eighth end sealed the championship berth for the Winnipeg-based rink.

Scheidegger beat Ottawa’s Rachel Homan 7-4 in quarter-final action Saturday afternoon. Tied at three, Scheidegger scored three in the fifth end to take the lead for good.

Jones beat Zurich, Switzerland’s Alina Paetz 7-4 to get into the semifinal. Jones would score three in the seventh end to pick up the victory.

Fleury advanced to the semifinal thanks to a 9-3 win in the quarter-finals over Binia Feltscher of Flims, Switzerland. Steals of three in the fourth and four in the fifth end lifted Fleury to the convincing win.

Carey moved on to the semifinal thanks to a 5-3 win over Val Sweeting of Edmonton.

In men’s quarter-final action on Saturday, Mouat advanced thanks to a convincing 7-1 win over Calgary’s Kevin Koe in six ends. Mouat opened the game with steals of one in each of the opening two ends. After Koe got on the board in the third end, Mouat would add on three more in the fourth before ending the game with steals of one in each of the final two ends.

Kim advanced with a 6-2 quarter-final win over Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers. Leading 3-2, Kim would score three in the seventh end to advance.

Epping moved on thanks to a 7-3 win over Jason Gunnlaugson of Winnipeg. Trailing 2-1, Epping would steal one in the fourth end before a steal of two in the fifth gave him the lead. After scoring one in the seventh end, Epping would seal the win with another steal of two in the eighth end.

McEwen would end Brad Gushue’s bid to win his third Grand Slam event of the season by knocking the St. John’s, Nfld. rink out in the quarter-final. McEwen advanced with a 4-3 victory.

The men’s final on Sunday is set for noon with the women’s final to follow at 4 p.m.