Another rink from outside Canada appears to be emerging as a formidable foe on the world curling stage.

Elena Stern's young up-and-coming squad from Switzerland upset three-time Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion Rachel Homan, 7-6, in an extra end final at the Canad Inns Women's Classic on Sunday from Portage La Prairie, Man. 

Twenty-four-year-old Stern, who calls the game but throws third stones, plays with fourth Briar Huerlimann, 26, second Lisa Gisler, 25, and lead Celine Koller, 23. 

The foursome from Oberwallis went an impressive 8-2 over the four-day event, including wins over Scotland's Eve Muirhead, 8-6, in the quarterfinal, Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni, 5-3, in the semifinal and Ottawa's Team Homan in the championship game. Their only losses came in the round robin to Homan and Winnipeg's Kerri Einarson. 

Team Stern have started the 2019-20 campaign a little slow record wise as they sit at 18-14, but this win might spark a sold run for Switzerland's second best women's team heading into the Grand Slam season. 

This was Team Homan's second straight finals appearance after winning the Colonial Square Ladies Classic at the end of September. 

Other notable names included Team Einarson, who fell to Homan in the semis, and Team Tracy Fleury who lost to Einarson in the quarters. 

Laura Walker and EunJung Kim both made the quarterfinal round as well with Kerry Galusha, Jamie Sinclair, Nina Roth and Kelsey Rocque all missing the playoffs. 

Team Jennifer Jones also missed the playoffs with a 2-3 record, falling to Tori Koana, Galusha and Ikue Kitazawa. 

In other women's action, Montreal's Julie Tippin defeated Scotties regular Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay in the Stroud Sleeman Cash Spiel, 7-2, while Andrea Crawford, who represented New Brunswick at last year's Canadian championship, downed Moncton's Sylvie Quillian, 6-3, in the Steele Cup Cash final. Calgary's Kayla Skrlik captured the Medicine Hat Charity Classic. 

In men's curling, Team Jaap van Dorp of Netherlands was the big winner as they took out curling legend Thomas Ulsrud and his new rink from Norway in the final of the Curling Masters Champery, 9-4. 

Sweden's Niklas Edin lost in the quarters while Yannick Schwaller of Switzerland fell in the semis. 

At the Medicine Hat Charity Classic, Edmonton's Karsten Sturmay beat Jason Gunnlaugson of Winnipeg in the final, 5-4. 

Sandy MacEwan won the Stroud Sleeman Cash Spiel and Scott Jones captured the Steele Cup Cash.