Shield secures spot in Rock League final vs. Typhoon

TORONTO — Shield Curling Club will take on Typhoon Curling Club for the inaugural Rock League championship at TMU Mattamy Athletic Centre.

Shield sealed its spot with a 2-0 win over Alpine Curling Club in Saturday afternoon's semifinals.

Marlee Powers and Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel rolled out with a commanding 9-2 rout over Sofia Scharback and Oskar Eriksson in the mixed doubles game, and Kerri Einarson connected on a hit to score two points in the seventh end to lift her women's team to a 5-4 victory over Alpine captain Alina Pätz and her crew to advance.

Shield captain Brad Jacobs scored four in the seventh end of the men's game to tie it 7-7 versus Alpine's Joël Retornaz. That would have forced a shootout, however, the two teams shook hands with the match already decided.

Typhoon eliminated Northern United 2-0 in their morning semifinal matchup to advance. Both semifinal winners were the lower seeds of their matches.

Shield and Alpine faced off Monday in the debut match for the all-new professional curling league. Shield won the round-robin match 2-1, taking the men’s game 9-4 and the mixed doubles game 6-4. Pätz skipped Alpine’s women’s team to an 8-4 win.

Although Shield was at the top of the table at the conclusion of the round-robin stage, the franchise lost both games to Maple United in its mixed fours match Saturday and slipped to the fourth and final playoff spot.

Sunday’s playoffs reverted to the round-robin format, with the first franchise to win two games taking the match.

Top-seeded Alpine had the advantage of starting the semifinal with the hammer in the mixed doubles game and either the men’s fours or the women’s fours game.

Alpine opted to give the hammer to the men, who made the most of it to score three points in the first end and were in control.

Facing four in the second, Jacobs hit and rolled into the four-foot circle to score a single after a measurement. The teams alternated pairs of points in three and four, and Retornaz drew for another deuce in five to hold a 7-3 advantage.

Jacobs blanked the sixth to retain the hammer coming home, and the wheels fell off for Alpine in the seventh as it had moments earlier on the other sheets.

Alpine’s aggressive strategy proved costly in the mixed doubles game. Holding the hammer in the third, tied 1-all, Alpine already had shot rock but was looking to make a double to potentially score four. Scharback was wide and jammed the hit, resulting in a steal of two.

Scharback and Eriksson fell behind 5-1 in the fourth after hitting a guard to give up another steal of two.

Alpine scored a single in five, but Scharback’s last rock in the sixth clicked off and rolled open, allowing Powers to put the game out of reach with a hit for three.

Scharback attempted a slash double in seven but missed the second stone to concede another point. The teams opted to shake hands rather than play the eighth end.

Pätz also got greedy early in the women's game, with a high-risk, high-reward opportunity. Already sitting two, Pätz looked to make an angle raise takeout to potentially score four, but jammed it to give up a single steal and fall behind 2-0.

Alpine recovered to get two back in the third. After exchanging singles, Einarson opted to give up a steal in the sixth to fall behind 4-3 but retain the hammer for the final frame.

Up next

• Final: Shield CC vs. Typhoon CC, 4 p.m. ET