We may be seeing the next generation of curling stars blossom before our eyes after some major setbacks Wednesday at the CO-OP Tour Challenge in Nisku, Alta.
Canadian curling legends Rachel Homan and Brad Gushue lost their matches Wednesday to Italy's Stefania Constantini and Canada's Rylan Clayter.
Although both Canadian teams did not have the worst results, it was the young talent who achieved the big wins.
Draw 5
Fujisawa 6, Skrlik 5
H. Schwaller 5, Yoshimura 4
Waddell 9, Dropkin 2
Edin 5, Carruthers 4
Draw 6
Hasselborg 6, Blacks 4
Lowes 7, Jim 4
Muat 7, Muskatevits 3
Dunston 7, Hoesley 2
Draw 7
Tirinzoni 9, Ha 2
Vrana 8, Kim 5
Retornaz 4, Koe 2
Kleiter 6, Gushue 5
Draw 8
Tabata 7, Einarson 3
Konstantin 8, Homan 4
Epping 6, White 1
Yu.Schwaller 7, McEwen 6
In both the women's and men's categories, the four unbeaten teams started the week off to a great start. For women, this is the Swiss team Silvana Tirinzoni, the Japanese team Satsuki Fujisawa, the Swedish team Anna Hasselborg and Constantini. The ideal men's teams are Bruce Mouat's Scotland team, John Epping's Canada team, Niklas Edin's Sweden team and Matt Dunstone's Canada team.
It's safe to say that Homan brings out the best in any team he plays on, but especially Constantini.
After going back and forth through the first seven ends, Homan sent the hammer into the eighth end trailing 5-4, the spot she wanted after deciding to use her only blank in the seventh end.
But in the eighth end, Constantini and her team took their game to the next level, leaving Homan with nothing to shoot for with his final throw other than an almost impossible angled rollback.
Although everyone was used to seeing Homan hit shots like these, she couldn't come up with one, losing the game 8-4, her first grand slam loss of the season.
John Epping needs more respect for being an elite scorer.
Against Scotland's Ross White, the Canadian was guaranteed one point in the first end but wanted two. With no easy pull path, the only option was to place the broom outside the rings and pass it through a very narrow, staggered port, trying to get enough bend to reach four feet.
Sure enough, Epping made a perfect draw to earn his deuce.
On Tuesday, White's teammate Robin Brydon hit the shot that turned the tide in White's favor. On Wednesday, White did the complete opposite.
White needed only a return nose with his last throw in the second end against Epping to take three points, with two of his own from four feet and Epping's lone strike.
However, Brydon's funk seemed to lift them out of Tuesday, returning for a pass as he played his rock tightly in the top four and went down, giving up an interception of one.
The throw proved to be a difficult night for White as he gave up interceptions in the third and fourth ends before shaking hands after five ends to lose 6-1.
Ahh, what we can do when we're young, or at least what Kleiter leader Trevor Johnson can do when he's young.
With Kleiter trailing 4-3 in the sixth end against Gushue and Gouchue sitting alone, partially buried behind two defenders, there was no room for error on Kleiter's first throw.
Kleiter, however, wanted to check this out.
Trying to land a light strike, Kleiter released the rock inside, forcing Johnson to struggle to keep it from breaking on the guards. Walking the length of the ice, Johnson was able to keep his line straight and help make a clearance, allowing Kleiter to score two goals and then claim a big Division I win over Gushue.
Despite earning a 5-4 win over Canada's Kevin Coe on Tuesday, Mouat didn't play his best game, resulting in a tie.
On Wednesday it was a completely different story for the world number one.
Against Mark Muskatewitz's Germany, Mouat looked like a man with something to prove, especially in the first end. After Muskatewitz played a strong end and appeared to force Muath to take his single, the Scottish star had other ideas.
Mouat decided to try to pick up two points by attempting a double shot on Muskatewitz's stone, which was on the edge of the top four.
This is a throw the average curler can only dream of. But Muat made the throw easy, caught his deuce and won 8-3.
Draws 10, 11, 12 will air Thursday on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
McEwen vs. Kleiter: 2:00 pm ET/11:00 pm PT
Einarson vs Skrlik: 6:00 pm ET/3:00 pm PT
Homan vs Vrana: 10:00 pm ET/7:00 pm PT
