CO-OP Invitational (Grand Slam of Curling)

Overview
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October 13, 2026
Event date:
October 18, 2026
Event end:

The Grand Slam season opens in Victoria

The CO-OP Invitational launches the five-event 2026-27 Grand Slam of Curling season, running October 13 to 18, 2026, at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, British Columbia. It brings the tour back to B.C. for the first time since March 2016, when the province last staged a Slam in nearby Colwood. After Victoria, the season continues with stops in Medicine Hat, Sydney, Thunder Bay and Kingston.

For the sport’s elite, the opening Slam sets the tone for the season, with Olympic medallists and world champions from both divisions lining up in the same week.

Format and field

Sixteen men’s and sixteen women’s teams take part. The GSOC competition committee invited 12 teams per division, and the remaining four places go to winners of GSOC Satellite Events. Teams are split into four pools, with three draws a day from Tuesday to Friday, tiebreakers on Saturday morning if needed, quarterfinals and semifinals on Saturday, and both finals on Sunday.

The defending champions are Scotland’s Team Mouat and Canada’s Team Homan, who won the event last season in Nisku, Alberta. Both are back in a deep men’s field that also includes Bottcher, Dunstone, Jacobs and Koe of Canada, Casper of the United States, Eriksson of Sweden, Hardie and Waddell of Scotland, Ramsfjell of Norway, Yannick Schwaller of Switzerland and Yamaguchi of Japan. Carson, Epping and Maeda earned their spots through satellite events.

The women’s invitees are Dupont (Denmark), Einarson, Homan, MacMillan and Reese-Hansen (Canada), Fujisawa and Nihira (Japan), Gim (South Korea), Hasselborg and Wranå (Sweden), and Pätz and Xenia Schwaller (Switzerland), with Zardini Lacedelli, Ueno and Kang through the satellite route. The last spot in each division goes to the winners of the satellite event in Vernon, B.C., in early October. Local interest centres on two Victoria rinks, MacMillan and Reese-Hansen; Taylor Reese-Hansen’s team, ranked 15th in the world, makes its top-tier Slam debut at home.

Host city and venue

Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre opened in 2005 and seats just over 7,000 for hockey as home of the WHL’s Victoria Royals. Its curling pedigree dates to its opening season, when it hosted the 2005 World Men’s Championship won by Randy Ferbey’s Canadian team. The arena sits downtown, within walking distance of the B.C. capital’s main landmarks, so visiting fans can combine the curling with the harbour and the city’s historic core.

Tickets

Early-bird full-event and weekend passes went on sale when the season schedule was announced, followed by day passes and single-draw tickets. All are sold online through the Grand Slam of Curling’s ticketing partner; prices are listed at the point of sale.