Photo of the Western Fair Sports Centre curling ice sheets. Photo taken by James Burnard
The Grand Slam of Curling (GSOC) kicks off 25th season in London with the AMJ Masters.
This is the first time a GSOC event has been held in the city of London. The AMJ Masters tournament is being hosted at the Western Fair Sports Centre.
Both of the men’s and women’s teams in the masters tier 1 and 2 will have 16 teams each coming from 13 countries.
XFM News spoke with John Cullen, a commentator and social media host for the GSOC, about the Grand Slam coming to London.
Some new things John Cullen says the GSOC is implementing “a World Cup soccer style pot draw to put our teams into pools… then one team comes out of each pool.”
Another rule being used is no extra ends.
“That’s something that’s been tried in other facets of the sport before,” Cullen said. “But it’s the first time ever being done at a proper slam event.”
Cullen explains the change is to make the outcome of a tied game a coin flip instead of the team with the hammer having the advantage to win (80% with men’s league, 70% with women’s league)
The GSOC Wheelchair Curling Invitational is also a first for GSOC featuring four teams. The six game round robin will be held at the same time in Waterloo at KW Granite Curling Club due to lack of space at the Western Fair Sports Centre. They will move to London for their bronze and gold medal games.
The AMJ Masters will be running from Sept. 23 to 28. The GSOC Wheelchair Curling Invitational will be from Sept. 24 to 27 with the finals on Sept. 28 in London.
First game is scheduled for 8 a.m. on Sept. 23.
