Schwaller wins All-Swiss Western Showdown Final

Yannick Schwaller continued his mastery over Swiss compatriot Michael Brunner on Sunday with an 8-6 victory in the men's final of the Nutrien Ag Solutions Western Showdown. A four-point end in the fifth proved to be the difference as Schwaller improved to 9-2 in head-to-head matchups against Brunner. "Usually when you score four in an eight-end game, it should be decisive," said Team Schwaller fourth Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel. "That happened in that game. We took a significant lead and we finished it off." Brunner was forced to an early single and in the third end, his hit-and-roll under cover finished just a whisker too far. Schwarz-van Berkel made the draw to score two and a measure confirmed a third point. Both teams were comfortable with plenty of rocks in play and making aggressive shots when needed. Schwaller throws third for his team, which includes second Sven Michel and lead Pablo Lachat. In the fourth, Brunner answered with a three of his own after Schwarz-van Berkel's double-takeout attempt jammed on the edge of the 12-foot ring. The veteran fourth delivered in the fifth end though by nailing a double-takeout to put Schwaller ahead to stay. Brunner, whose team includes Anthony Petoud, Romano Meier and Andreas Gerlach, was forced to a single in the sixth. Schwarz-van Berkel drew for one point in the seventh before running his opponent out of rocks in the eighth. "We were playing well the whole week and we had a good record from the past 18 months against them," Schwarz-van Berkel told CurlingZone. "So we were confident going in." Earlier in the day at the Swift Current Curling Club, Schwaller edged American Korey Dropkin 5-4 in the semifinal to advance. Schwarz-van Berkel made a soft-weight double for the game-winning deuce. "I think we had a very good run in the playoffs and I think we played all games very well," he said. Brunner, meanwhile, managed to pull out back-to-back one-point playoff wins over Canadian teams to reach the final. He beat Catlin Schneider in the quarterfinals and needed an extra end to get by Mike McEwen in the semifinals. McEwen, who enjoyed a strong week, made a great angle-raise for a pair to tie the game 3-3 after six ends. Brunner settled for a single point in the seventh and forced McEwen to make a soft tap for one to force an extra end. The point was confirmed on a measure. However, McEwen hogged his first stone in the ninth end and his second rock ticked Brunner's shot stone to give the Swiss skip a 5-4 victory. Several rinks in the 18-team field will now shift their focus to the upcoming Grand Slam of Curling WFG Masters in Saskatoon. McEwen, Dropkin and Schwaller will be in the field. "The jetlag is over for us," Schwarz-van Berkel said. "It's always something to consider. Hopefully we can carry on the momentum into the Slam." Replay links for all games at the Western Showdown are available on the www.curlingzone.com website.