By Jonathan Brazeau
STATELINE, Nev. — It’s moving day at the KIOTI GSOC Tahoe, as teams look to advance to the playoffs while others will see their time in Lake Tahoe get cut short.
Tickets are available at ticketmaster.com. Watch online at rockchannel.com.
Broadcast coverage on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ resumes with Draw 16 at 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT, featuring Team Bruce Mouat vs. Team Josh Allen.
Keep it here all Friday for the latest results and who has qualified.
QUICK LINKS: DRAW SCHEDULE | BROADCAST SCHEDULE | STANDINGS
MCEWEN IN THE MIX AGAIN
Mike McEwen and his Saskatoon-based squad will play at least another day.
McEwen scored five points in the seventh end to blitz Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin 11-5 Friday morning and earn his second win in a row to finish preliminary play level at 2-2.
“The biggest thing with that game was seven ends of just solid curling from the guys,” said McEwen, who has won seven Grand Slam of Curling titles. “That’s really nice to see heading into probably a tiebreaker situation, you never know, but just to play a complete game from start to finish.
“Even the three on there, we were kind of a little bit unfortunate. There were a lot of good throws that end, so it was nice to play a complete game that was just solid from lead to skip.”
It’s too early to tell if McEwen (six points) will make it straight through to the quarterfinals or have to take a detour through a tiebreaker. An exceptional last stone draw shootout tally, second best among all men’s teams in the tournament, should guarantee him at least something.
“It’s massive,” McEwen said. “We don’t have any extra-end losses to get us in straight, so the shootout is very important for us. I guess we’re just a sucker for punishment for early morning tiebreaker games.”
The alternate route hasn’t worked out for McEwen so far this season, with losses to Team Brad Jacobs at the AMJ Masters and Team Brad Gushue at the CO-OP Tour Challenge in tiebreakers.
Friday marks 15 years since McEwen captured his first Grand Slam title at the Masters, then called the World Cup of Curling. McEwen defeated Jeff Stoughton, who now works for Curling Canada and just so happened to be on McEwen’s bench this week.
“Oh, that’s a long time ago,” McEwen said. “Just a ton of excitement. We went on to win two that season. We always dreamed of winning a Grand Slam, and I think we kind of exceeded our own expectations to win two.
“That was 2010. I just remember that was the pinnacle of top curling on tour. We hadn’t been to a Brier yet, to a national championship, so we celebrated pretty hard, especially younger days, we would have really celebrated and just relished it. That first one was special.”
While teammates Kevin and Dan Marsh have won a Tier 2 title and Colton Flasch has captured the season championship, all three are still seeking their first major event title in the series.
“We’ve been close to appearing in some finals, not this season, but if we rewind the last couple seasons, we’ve had really good battles in some semifinals. Not quite made it to a final appearance,” McEwen said. “For myself, I haven’t been in a final since ’18-19. It’s been a while. I would really like to get to another one and obviously to do it and get the guys their very first would be amazing.
“Still trying to grind away. It’s been a while, but would love to get one more, especially after a long break.”
MEN’S PLAYOFFS
• Team Brad Jacobs (4-0, 12 points): Secured a spot with a 6-3 win over Team Ross Whyte on Thursday and wrapped up round-robin play with a 7-6 victory against Team Marc Muskatewitz on Friday afternoon.
• Team Yannick Schwaller (3-1, 10 points): First past the post with a 6-4 win over Team Rylan Kleiter on Thursday. Schwaller added another point to his total with an 8-7 loss in the shootout to Team Kyle Waddell on Friday.
• Team Bruce Mouat (3-0, nine points): Qualified with a 7-4 win over Team Niklas Edin on Thursday.
• Team Matt Dunstone (3-0, nine points): Advanced with a 7-4 win over Team Marco Hösli on Thursday.
• Team Kyle Waddell (3-1, seven points): The shootout win over Schwaller was good enough for Waddell to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals.
• Team Ross Whyte (3-1, seven points): Punched a playoff ticket after scoring five in the seventh to defeat Team Xu Xiaoming 9-5 in Draw 15.
• Team John Epping (2-2, seven points): Earned a playoff berth with a 9-5 win over Team Rylan Kleiter.
WOMEN’S PLAYOFFS
• Team Rachel Homan (4-0, 12 points): Qualified with an 8-3 win over Team Kaitlyn Lawes on Thursday and kept the unblemished record intact by slamming Team Sayaka Yoshimura 10-3. After Yoshimura counted three in the first, it was all Homan from there. Homan scored four in the second and rode away with steals of two in the third, one in the fourth and three in the fifth to put the game to bed early.
• Team Silvana Tirinzoni (4-0, 12 points): Already qualified, Tirinzoni capped an undefeated run through preliminary play in the afternoon with an 8-3 win over Team Wang Rui. It’s the third consecutive Grand Slam event that Tirinzoni has gone 4-0 through the round-robin stage.
• Team Xenia Schwaller (3-1, nine points): Schwaller wrapped up preliminary play early Friday with a 9-3 rout over Team Rebecca Morrison to qualify.
• Team Sayaka Yoshimura (2-2, seven points): Clinched with a 6-5 win over Team Momoha Tabata on Thursday. Yoshimura earned an extra point from a shootout loss to Team Seung-youn Ha during Tuesday’s opening draw.
SCHEDULE/RESULTS
Draw 13
• Hösli 6, Retornaz 4
• Ha 8, Kitazawa 6
• X. Schwaller 9, Morrison 3
• McEwen 11, Edin 5
Draw 14
• Tirinzoni 8, Wang 3
• Lawes 6, Tabata 5
• Jacobs 7, Muskatewitz 6
• Waddell 8, Y. Schwaller 7 (shootout)
Draw 15
• Fujisawa 8, Einarson 7
• Epping 9, Kleiter 5
• Homan 10, Yoshimura 3
• Whyte 9, Xu 5
Draw 16: 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT
• Gim vs. Kang
• Dunstone vs. McDonald
• Hasselborg vs. Wranå
• Mouat vs. Allen
HOW TO WATCH THE KIOTI GSOC TAHOE
Every game of the 2025-26 Grand Slam of Curling season will be available (for free!) to worldwide audiences via live streaming on Rock Channel.
Fans will also be able to catch up anytime with full on-demand replays in the archived games section.
Canada
Sportsnet remains the home of the Grand Slam of Curling for Canadians, with broadcast coverage of the 2025 KIOTI GSOC Tahoe from Thursday, Nov. 6, to Sunday, Nov. 9.
Canadians can also stream GSOC games via Rock Channel*.
*Canadian fans will not have access to live access on Rock Channel to stream 2025-26 GSOC final matchups and select draws on Thursdays and Fridays. These games will be available live via linear TV on Sportsnet and streaming on Sportsnet+.
Europe
Eurovision will broadcast all games from Friday, Nov. 7 to Sunday, Nov. 9.
More information here on how to watch.
United States
FanDuel Sports Network will have coverage of three draws during the KIOTI GSOC Tahoe event.
• Thursday, Nov. 6: 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT — Team Allen vs. Team McEwen
• Saturday, Nov. 8: 2:30 p.m. ET / 11:30 a.m. PT — Women’s Quarterfinals
• Sunday, Nov. 9: 2:30 p.m. ET / 11:30 a.m. PT — Men’s Final
More here on ways to watch FanDuel Sports Network’s coverage.
ABOUT THE KIOTI GSOC TAHOE
The KIOTI GSOC Tahoe is the third stop of the Grand Slam of Curling season, featuring 16 men’s teams and 16 women’s teams from around the world.
The preliminary round runs through to Friday evening, with the top eight teams advancing to the playoffs. If necessary, one tiebreaker round will be played Saturday morning. The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, with both finals on tap Sunday.
Teams can blank only one end per game. If a team blanks again at any other point in the game, they will lose the hammer.
There are no extra ends. If a game is tied after eight ends, even in the playoffs, a draw-to-the-button shootout will determine the winner.
During the preliminary round, teams receive three points for a regulation win (in eight ends or fewer), two points for a shootout win, and one point for a shootout loss.
