Canucks’ Game 1 win over Edmonton Oilers raises uncomfortable question

CALGARY – Kevin Koe will skip a three-man curling team for now.

The four-time Canadian and two-time men’s world champion dropped second Jacques Gauthier from his Glencoe Club team on the eve of the PointsBet Invitational that started Wednesday in Calgary.

Koe opened the event that offers $50,000 in prize money to each of the men’s and women’s winners with an 8-4 doubling of national university men’s champion Josh Bryden.

Koe, who also represented Canada in the 2018 Winter Olympics, says there wasn’t enough time to find a replacement for Gauthier for the PointsBet, and there won’t be enough time before next week’s first Grand Slam of the season, which is the HearingLife Tour Challenge in Charlottetown.

“We haven’t talked to anyone yet,” Koe said. “We’ll see who can come and play an event or two. I don’t think we’re going to rush out and grab someone right away, but come to an event with us and see how it goes.

“We’ll get through these next two weeks and start talking about it and seeing what our options are.”

A big-name curling free agent without a team in Koe’s home province is Brendan Bottcher. The skip of the No. 2 men’s team in Canada last season was supplanted on his team by Brad Jacobs.

When asked if it was a possibility Bottcher would join his team, Koe replied “no, it’s not.”

After skipping his own team for four years and representing B.C. in the 2023 Brier, Gauthier joined Koe, his cousin Tyler Tardi and Karrick Martin to play second for the 2023-24 season.

The team won a pair of tour events and made five finals with Gauthier on the squad, but didn’t qualify for playoffs in five Grand Slam appearances and went 2-6 at the Canadian championship in Regina to miss playoffs.

Koe went 2-3 in the ATB Okotoks Classic last week before Gauthier was axed.

The 25-year-old son of Canadian champion and television commentator Cathy Gauthier, said Wednesday in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Elephant in the room. I got cut yesterday.”

“I wasn’t sure if I should make a public comment on it, but I wanted to provide some clarity,” Gauthier wrote.

“The team decided I wasn’t performing to their standard and decided they’d pursue alternative options moving forward.

“It happens. Nothing is a given in this sport, and although I am surprised at the timing, I know I can be better as a player. I plan on using this as an opportunity to grow both as an individual and a curler, looking to improve in all areas.

“For now, it’s back to the lab.”

The 49-year-old Koe wants to skip a team that can qualify for, and win, next year’s Olympic trials, which he says is likely his last trials.

“We struggled at the end of last season and we had some good talks and meetings and thought we could turn it around at the start of the year,” Koe said.

“If the trials were a couple years away we probably would have been a little more patient. They’re 14 months away basically.

“They’re never easy, these moves. Jaques was a great teammate, great curler, best person, but we felt we needed to do what was best for the team.”

Koe finished last season ranked fifth in the men’s Canadian Team Ranking System.

Four teams ranked higher — Brad Gushue, Jacobs, Mike McEwen and Matt Dunstone — have pre-qualified for the 2025 Montana’s Brier in Kelowna, B.C.

Koe will have to win Alberta provincials to join them. Since Koe, Tardi and Martin live in Alberta, the team can recruit a player from outside the province.

“We’ve had a few people kind of inquire, but this was yesterday, right?” Koe said. “It’s a big week for us. We need some better results.

“We’ll start talking about it in a week or two. Maybe we’ll get some offers we weren’t expecting.

“We’re better than kind of the last half-year has shown, but it’s time for us to prove it.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.

TORONTO – Kevin Gausman threw six strong innings and Alejandro Kirk drove in three runs as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Boston Red Sox 6-1 on Wednesday to end a five-game losing skid.

Leadoff hitter Jonatan Clase hit his first career home run for the Blue Jays (74-85) and added two singles and a walk. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. chipped in with two of Toronto’s 11 hits.

The Red Sox (80-79) were denied a three-game sweep and had their four-game win streak come to an end. Jarren Duran had two hits and scored Boston’s lone run.

Gausman (14-11) allowed four hits and one earned run for his third straight victory. Brendon Little, Erik Swanson and Chad Green threw a scoreless frame apiece.

Richard Fitts (0-1) made his fourth career start for the Red Sox. He did not give up an earned run in his first three starts, settling for no-decisions despite pitching at least five innings in each appearance.

Toronto nearly ended his streak in the first inning. Clase singled and reached third after a sacrifice bunt and a groundout but Kirk lined out to end the threat.

The Blue Jays got to Fitts in the fourth when Guerrero doubled and came around on a Kirk double. Kirk moved to third base on a groundout and scored when Ernie Clement stroked a single through the left side of the infield.

In the fifth inning, Lukes dropped his second sacrifice bunt of the game to move Tyler Heineman to third and Clase to second base.

Kirk drove in both runners by smacking a ball off the wall near the right-field corner. The slow-footed catcher was thrown out at second base to end the inning after both runners had crossed the plate.

Gausman threw five shutout frames before Boston tallied in the sixth. Duran hit a leadoff double and scored when Triston Casas lined a single to right field.

Fitts allowed six hits, four earned runs and two walks while striking out two over five innings. Gausman fanned three batters and issued three walks.

Clase hit a two-run shot in the seventh inning off Red Sox reliever Josh Winckowski. Guerrero had a bloop single later in the frame to leave him three away of the 200-hit plateau for the season.

The Rogers Centre roof opened shortly before first pitch. Announced attendance was 27,694 and the game took two hours 31 minutes to play.

BICHETTE UPDATE

Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette was scheduled to undergo surgery Wednesday to repair his fractured right middle finger.

He suffered the season-ending injury last week while taking grounders during infield practice.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider said a pin would be used to help address a “little displacement” in Bichette’s finger. A recovery timeline wasn’t provided but Bichette is expected to be ready for spring training.

COACHING SHUFFLE

Blue Jays field coordinator Gil Kim served as first-base coach for the series finale against the Red Sox.

Regular first-base coach Mark Budzinski moved across the diamond to fill in for third-base coach Carlos Febles, who underwent knee surgery on Tuesday.

COMING UP

The Blue Jays have an off-day Thursday before kicking off their final series of the season on Friday against the visiting Miami Marlins.

The Red Sox will return home to prepare for Friday’s opener of a three-game set against the Tampa Bay Rays.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.

Follow @GregoryStrongCP on X.

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CALGARY – Gabby Wood says her curling team is ready for anything this season after facing the No. 1 women’s team in the world.

The Canadian women’s college champions took on Rachel Homan in the opening draw of the single-knockout PointsBet Invitational on Wednesday.

Wood’s Edmonton foursome took their lumps in an 11-2 loss, and will also take the experience of playing on arena ice and on television against the reigning Canadian and world champions.

“It’s a crazy first game of the season, so honestly, none of our opponents after this are going to seem that scary,” said the 20-year-old Wood.

The PointsBet Invitational that unofficially kicks off the Canadian curling season offers a purse of over $350,000, including $50,000 each to the men’s and women’s victors, to an eclectic field of 32 teams.

There’s a soccer FA Cup element as underdog junior, college, university, under-25 and club champions attempt to upset, and send home early, the likes of Homan and reigning Canadian men’s champion Brad Gushue.

Kaitlyn Lawes, who ranked fourth in Canada at the end of last season, beat recently crowned national women’s under-25 champion Taylor Reese-Hansen 5-2.

National No. 8 Corryn Brown doubled university women’s champion Serena Gray Withers 8-4 in the opening draw.

Selena Sturmay edged Ashley Thevenot 8-7 in the other women’s game to kick off the five-day cashspiel at Calgary’s WinSport Arena.

In the first men’s draw later Wednesday, Gushue was to take on Canadian men’s club champ Dan Sherrard and four-time national champ Kevin Koe was to meet university men’s champion Josh Bryden.

National women’s under-21 champion Allyson MacNutt squares off against four-time Canadian champ Kerri Einarson, and men’s under-21 champion Kenan Wipf faces 2024 Brier runner-up Mike McEwen on Thursday.

“We are just so grateful that they include the college champions, the university champions,” Wood said. “We don’t get a ton of opportunities to play on arena ice, and so that makes a huge difference developmentally.

“Having a chance, other than our nationals, to play on arena ice, on this big stage, to get to experience just a little bit of what the pros experience is just really exciting and really inspiring.”

Seven months after claiming the Scotties Tournament of Hearts title on the same WinSport ice, Ottawa’s Homan opened defence of her PointsBet crown by scoring four in the second end.

The skip tossed a triple takeout in the third to negate a multi-point setup by Wood, whose team then struggled with changing ice conditions in a warm building.

“It’s great to get them on this kind of stage, on a national platform and getting some arena ice experience is really key for next gen to get as much experience as possible,” Homan said.

“There’s lots they can take out of it for sure. Lots of great throws and I thought they communicated well.”

The only major upset in the first two years of the PointsBet was national under-25 men’s champion Ryan Kleiter toppling fourth-seed Koe 10-6 last year in Oakville, Ont.

The odds are against the underdogs, who will take what they can from a loss.

“Every time we get to play on arena ice, we’re really excited, and playing against a top team, that’s what we want to do. That’s where we want to be,” said Reese-Hansen. “These are the teams that we want to play against and see how we stack up, so it’s super valuable.”

Added Gray-Withers: “It just makes us hungrier for more, to be honest, because we’re just super blessed with great ice, great rocks and great conditions here, so we just want to be back for more.”

A PointsBet berth for less experienced teams is one carrot to keep young teams in competitive curling.

Curlers often fall into the gap between junior and elite curling as school and jobs can knock the sport down life’s priority list.

“My mentality when I played against more experienced teams when I was in juniors or early in my career, was you have nothing to lose and you can learn so much,” Lawes said.

“So the fact that they’re here and they’re competitive and willing to learn, I think that’s going to help keep teams in the game.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.