Rogers Communications : Team Gushue and Team Sweeting Capture Tour Challenge Tier 1 Titles in Regina

- The Masters, the second Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling event of the season, begins October 24 in Lloydminster, SK -

REGINA (September 10, 2017) Concluding six days of competition at the Co-Operators Centre, Team Gushue (St. John's, NL) and Team Sweeting (Edmonton) have captured the Tour Challenge Tier 1 titles in Regina. Additionally, Team Gunnlaugson (Winnipeg) and Team Einarson (Winnipeg) also claimed titles following the Tier 2 finals Sunday.

In Tier 1 men's competition, Team Gushue captured its eighth career Grand Slam title with a decisive 9-1 victory over Team Walstad (Oslo, Norway) on Sunday. With the win, Team Gushue takes home $20,000 of the $100,000 men's purse and qualifies for the Humpty's Champions Cup, the final Grand Slam event of the season.

"It feels good," said skip Brad Gushue. "Our team played really well this week. Obviously, we got lucky there in the quarterfinals but every other game we played, we played solid and really controlled it. It's nice to win the Tour Challenge, we haven't won it before."

In Tier 1 women's action, Team Sweeting defended its Tour Challenge title Sunday afternoon with a 6-5 win over Team Hasselborg (Sundbyberg, Sweden). With this victory, Team Sweeting collects $20,000 of the $100,000 women's purse and secures a spot in the Humpty's Champions Cup in Calgary.

"It's really exciting," said skip Val Sweeting. "To get that berth in the Champions Cup early is always a bit of a relief. You don't know when you're going to be back in the final, so you want to take advantage. It was a great event. We were excited to play here in Regina and it was a good time."

In Tour Challenge Tier 2 action, Team Gunnlaugson edged out Team Lyburn (Winnipeg) in the men's final with a close 8-7 battle, securing a spot in next month's Masters competition and $10,000 in prize money. In the women's final, Team Einarson downed Team Carey (Calgary) 7-4 on Sunday afternoon, collecting $10,000 in prize money and a berth in the Masters bonspiel in Lloydminster, SK.

The next event of the 2017-18 Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling season is the Masters, which kicks off on Tuesday, October 24 at the Centennial Civic Centre in Lloydminster. The second of seven events on the Grand Slam calendar, the Masters will feature the world's best 15 men's and 15 women's teams.

Additional events in the 2017-18 Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling series include:

• Masters - Lloydminster, SK (October 24-29, Centennial Civic Centre)
• Boost National - Sault Ste. Marie, ON (November 14-19, Essar Centre)
• Meridian Canadian Open - Camrose, AB (January 16-21, Encana Arena at Camrose Recreation Centre)
• Princess Auto Elite 10 - Winnipeg, MB (March 15-18, St. James Civic Centre)
• Players' Championship - Toronto, ON (April 10-15, Ryerson's Mattamy Athletic Centre)
• Humpty's Champions Cup - Calgary, AB (April 24-29, WinSport Arena, Canada Olympic Park

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