National kicks off at Essar Centre

The teams have been set, the schedule is ready and the facility is ready. Now all that’s left is the first rocks to be thrown at the 2016 National.

The third event in the Grand Slam of Curling season, the National takes over the Essar Centre locally this week with 30 of the top men’s and women’s teams in the world coming together in Sault Ste. Marie.

The first draw is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday evening with Sault Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs and his team from the Community First Curling Centre set for action.

Jacobs and his teammates – third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harnden – will open the event Tuesday against Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton, Alta. in the opening draw of the six-day event. The other matchups in Tuesday’s opening draw see Brad Gushue of St. John’s, Nfld. face Tanner Horgan of Sudbury, Ont. on the men’s side while the two women’s games will see Scotland’s Eve Muirhead face Russian Anna Siderova and Val Sweeting of Edmonton, Alta. will face Binia Feltscher of Switzerland.

This marks the third time the event had been held in Sault Ste. Marie. Mike McEwen won the event two years ago – the last time it was held locally – by beating Brad Jacobs in the final. At that time, the tournament featured just a men’s draw while the women’s draw was added ahead of last year’s event.

The event will see a familiar face return to action as well as Gushue will make his season debut in the tournament. The 36-year-old skip has yet to play in a tournament this season due to a hip/groin issue but announced via Facebook last week that he plans to make his return to the ice this week in Sault Ste. Marie.

Mark Nichols has served as skip in Gushue’s absence.

The Gushue rink won three Grand Slam of Curling events last season and enters this week as the defending champion of the National.

In Grand Slam of Curling events this season, Sweden’s Niklas Edin has had the hot hand. The 31-year-old is coming off his third consecutive European title win in late November and has won the two previous Grand Slam of Curling events. In late October, Edin won the WFG Masters with a win over Jacobs in the final to become the first European men’s team to win a Grand Slam event. Edin proceeded to win the Tour Challenge two weeks later and could join a very small group that has won at least three consecutive Grand Slam of Curling Events. The only skips with three (or more) consecutive wins are Kevin Martin, Glenn Howard and Rachel Homan.

On the women’s side, Rachel Homan of Ottawa, Ont. is the defending champion.