It may still be August, but the 2018-19 curling season is officially underway as another Olympic voyage beings.

Tournaments took place in Winnipeg and Baden, Switzerland this weekend with some notable names playing and picking up victories. 

 

Icebreaker at The Granite (Winnipeg)

Men's Purse: $7,690 (CDN)
Women's Purse: $6,020 (CDN)

Braden Calvert and his hometown crew from Winnipeg took out the Olympic champions in the final on Sunday, edging Team John Shuster of Duluth, Minnesota, 4-3. 

Shuster and his American squad reached the pinnacle of curling last season with a shocking gold-medal victory at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

It's a nice start for Calvert's new-look squad after adding second Ian McMillan and lead Rob Gordon in the off-season. The 23-year-old Calvert, who won both the Canadian and world junior championship in 2015, will hope to keep it going as he'll be in tough in the very strong curling province of Manitoba. 

A couple new-look rinks from Saskatchewan made their debuts this weekend as well. 

Kirk Muyres, formerly of Team Steve Laycock, is now skipping his own team out of Saskatoon and they were able to put up a 2-2 record, but missed the playoffs. Two-time Canadian junior champ Matt Dunstone, who also played with Laycock last winter, posted a 2-2 record in his return to the skip position. The new Regina rink also sees Braeden Moskowy, formerly of Team Reid Carruthers, at third and Catlin Schneider at second. 

Team Jason Gunnlaugson of Winnipeg, who added second Denni Neufeld from Mike McEwen's old squad this summer, lost to Team Calvert in the semi-finals, 7-2. 

Plenty of teams were making their much anticipated debuts on the women's side as well, but it was a foursome that stuck together that were the last ones standings. 

Winnipeg's Team Darcy Robertson kicked off their fourth campaign together with an impressive 9-8 victory over Russia's Anna Sidorova in the final. Team Robertson went 4-0 over the weekend, beating Team Cory Christensen in the semis. Team Robertson had one victory on the World Curling Tour last season.     

Team Allison Flaxey, who skips an entirely new rink of third Kate Cameron, second Taylor McDonald and lead Raunora Westcott, posted an overall record of 3-1, but lost to Sidorova in the semi-final. 

The most intriguing new-look rink this season could be Winnipeg's Team Kerri Einarson, who brought together four skips (Einarson, Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Briane Meilleur) to form curling’s version of a "super-team." They went 2-2 in their first event and were unable to qualify for the playoff round.

Team Tracy Fleury, who is now skipping Einarson's old team, went 3-1 and fell to Christensen in the quarter-final. 

 

Baden Masters (Baden, Switzerland)

Men's Purse: $43,684

Veteran curling Thomas Ulsrud and his Norwegian crew known for their fancy pants started their 12th season together on a high note by beating last year's world champions Team Niklas Edin in the final, 5-2.

The 46-year-old Ulsrud, who finished with a disappointing 4-5 record at the South Korea Olympics last season, went a perfect 4-0 over the weekend in Baden, including a semi-final victory over countrymen Team Steffen Walstad. Walstad and company might soon take over as the top rink in Norway.  

Edin, who was upset by Team Shuster in the Olympic final last year, defeated Switzerland's Peter de Cruz in the semis, en route to the championship game. Team de Cruz won bronze in Pyeongchang.

Scotland's Bruce Mouat, 23, became a house-hold name in curling last season with five victories (including one Grand Slam) on tour and a bronze medal performance at the worlds in Las Vegas. In his first event of the 2018-19 season, the young Scot went 2-2 and lost to Ulsrud in the quarters.