Who is Ross Paterson?
He and his teammates Kyle Waddell, Duncan Menzies and Michael Goodfellow claimed their first-ever Grand Slam of Curling victory with a 4-3, extra-end victory over Bruce Mouat’s rink in the all-Scotland final in Conception Bay South, Newfoundland (CAN).
“It feels awesome,” Paterson said. “It feels unreal. It’s something that we all dream of. You want to be playing in Grand Slams and we’ve had a bit of a breakthrough year. We’ve had a little bit of fortune to get into a couple Grand Slams but we’ve found a bit of consistency and to be on the winner’s board is incredible.”
Paterson’s squad earned the title the hard way, defeating reigning World Champion Niklas Edin (SWE) in the quarterfinals, 7-4, and then rushing past another former World Champion, Glenn Howard (CAN), in the semis, 7-6, with a point in an extra end.
In the women’s division, Canada’s Rachel Homan – with Emma Miskew, Joanne Courtney and Lisa Weagle – defeated fellow Canadian Kerri Einarson’s rink, 4-1, to win their second straight Grand Slam tournament and third straight Grand Slam final.
“It feels really good. We’ve worked really hard this year,” Homan – skip of the 2017 World Champion team for Canada – said. “Obviously, a little bit disappointing after the Olympics [sixth]. We didn’t do as well as we wanted to do for Canada, so we’re working as hard as ever and want to keep pushing the game and keep pushing ourselves. We’re just having a lot of fun right now.”
With the win, Homan tied Jennifer Jones (CAN) – who they eliminated in the semifinals – for the most Grand Slam wins with nine.
