Edin's Vikings Thwart Shuster's Americans at Grand Slam

Sweden's Niklas Edin (photo: Anil Mungal, GSOC) won 9-4 over John Shuster of the United States in day 2 action at the HearingLife Tour Challenge in Niagara Falls. Edin with Oskar Eriksson at third, Rasmus Wrana and Christoffer Sundgren on the front end scored a single in the first end. Shuster with Matt Hamilton, Colin Hufman and John Landsteiner took their turn with hammer in the second end, getting two points in return, with Edin getting a pair back themselves in the third end. From there, the game moved in favour of the Karlstad-based Edin, where a steal in the fourth end put them up 4-2. Shuster got two in the fifth end to even the score, with Edin responding with two in the sixth end to take back the lead. In the seventh end, Shuster forced the action attempting to score a big end, where Edin went on to steal three point and seal the victory. Edin has won the last 7 meetings between the skips dating back to the Curling World Cup Final in April 2019, improving to 17-11 overall in career meetings, with their most memorable meeting happening in the final of the 2018 Winter Olympics, where Shuster won 10-7. Edin improved to 16-9 on the season, reaching the final of the AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic and the quarterfinals at the Oslo Cup in September. Shuster, 11-6, reached the semifinals of the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard as their lone playoff appearance thus far. Edin now has a career record of 22 wins and 15 losses in 7 appearances at the HearingLife Tour Challenge Tier 1, winning in 2022, and 2016. Edin lost their opening game to Scotland's Ross Whyte, 8-5, while Shuster won 6-5 over Scotland's Bruce Mouat leaving both teams at 1-1 so far through the week. Edin faces Italy's Joel Retornaz on Thursday and Calgary's Kevin Koe on Friday to complete their round-robin play. Shuster faces Winnipeg's Reid Carruthers and Japan's Riku Yanagisawa to complete their schedule. Plays continues through Sunday, with Sportsnet broadcasts beginning on Thursday.