Archive

Glenn Howard defeated, takes slapshot at NHL All-Star hockey OSHAWA, Ont. – Winnipeg's Mike McEwen sprawled on the ice and yelled as his final stone made a perfect nose takeout for a 5-4 victory at the 2011 BDO Canadian Open. McEwen's second win in three Capital One Grand Slam of Curling events came over hometown favourite Glenn Howard of Coldwater, Ontario. McEwen started fast, racing to leads of 3-0 and 4-1 before three-time world champion Howard clawed back, scoring a deuce in the seventh end and stealing the critical point in the eighth to force an extra-end. With the vibrant crowd at General Motors Place urging them on, Howard and McEwen traded brilliant last stones in a desperate reach for the trophy and $25,000 winner's cheque. The veteran Howard threw a double-takeout just past a guard to remove two McEwen counters and lie two, but the 30-year-old Manitoban followed that up with his own rocket and stayed for shot stone and the win. "That was awesome," said McEwen, who f ...

Capital One Junior Draw to the Button supports youth, Canadian curling clubs OSHAWA, Ont. – Teri Schiman of Vernon, British Columbia has been on one wild ride. And she's ready to back to real life. "It's been an amazing ride but I'm happy it's done," said the 37-year-old housewife, who also runs her own small daycare centre in her Okanagan city. Schiman, who had never previously curled in her life, threw a curling stone live on national television Sunday afternoon for a $1 million prize at the Capital One Million Dollar Button. "I thought I was really light," said Schiman. Everyone thought she was really light. Schiman dropped to her knees on the ice and screamed at the stone as the fans at the General Motors Centre – including her husband Dave and two young sons, Matthew and Ethan – screamed with her. Her stone slowly trundled along the lightning-fast Capital One Grand Slam ice surface. It kept sliding. And sliding. The crowd shrieked. The event management crew ...

Howard peaking right on time Ontario curling titan faces Winnipeg young guns in Oshawa OSHAWA, Ont. – Glenn Howard is soon off to the Ontario Tankard provincials, and he likes the current look of his polished curling team. The five-time defending Ontario champion (at left)  led his Coldwater, Ont. squad to an exacting 7-3 semifinal victory over defending world champion Kevin Koe of Edmonton Saturday night at the 2011 BDO Canadian Open at General Motors Centre in Oshawa. Howard, now undefeated all week, is through to Sunday's championship final (1:00pm ET on CBC-TV and CBCSports.ca) and will face Winnipeg's undefeated Mike McEwen, who eliminated city rival Jeff Stoughton 6-4 in the other semi. Stoughton had played giant-killer in the quarterfinals by disposing of defending champion Kevin Martin of Edmonton by a 5-3 scoreline. It marked Stoughton's second victory over Martin in four years, with the first victory since 2007 coming at the Grey Power® World Cup of Curling at ...

Winnipeg veteran earns his second Martin conquest in four years OSHAWA, Ont. – "Man, those guys are good." Steve Gould has been through the curling wars. The longtime lead for Winnipeg curling skip Jeff Stoughton, Gould has won two Briers and one world championship in a lengthy career that has left his body battered and bruised. Despite helping Team Stoughton defeat Olympic champion Kevin Martin 5-3 for only their second head to head win since 2007, Gould still spoke admirably of his Edmonton foes. "The difference today was the early lead," said Gould. "I don't know how many times we've been looking good for a deuce in the first end, and (Martin) somehow ends up stealing." Stoughton grabbed an opening two and held the Edmonton titans at bay through four ends. Martin managed to steal a point in the fifth end following an outrageous shot, and the game was tied at two apiece. Stoughton blanked the sixth end and then gambled, and won, in the seventh. Electing a tricky takeout rathe ...

Brandon curling foursome goes from 0-3 to BDO Canadian Open playoffs OSHAWA, Ont. – For a man who just competed in two morning tiebreakers, Brandon curling skip Rob Fowler looked remarkably chipper. Four consecutive wins and a playoff berth into the $100,000 BDO Canadian Open will do that to a guy. Fowler and Co. defeated Toronto's John Epping 3-1 and then Mark Bice of Sarnia, Ont. by a 5-2 count in abbreviated six-end matches Saturday morning to reach the quarterfinals (3:00pm ET on CBC-TV and CBCSports.com). Fowler will battle Glenn Howard of Coldwater, Ont. and, should he win, his squad would then compete in the Saturday night semifinals – a fourth match in one day. "It was two games, but both games were only six ends long," said Fowler. "To put that into perspective, we play 10-end games at our provincials, so this was like two regular extra-end games. "It almost felt like the break between the games was like a halftime, and the other team switched their lineup for the secon ...

Friday night curling slugfest means long Saturday in Oshawa OSHAWA, Ont. – Never before in the history of the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling has a 2-3 won/loss record been good enough to qualify for a tiebreaker. That record was shattered Friday night at the General Motors Centre when Norway's Thomas Ulsrud missed his draw for the win over Peter Corner of Brampton, Ont. to lose 5-3... a result which opened the tiebreaker floodgates at the 2011 BDO Canadian Open. Eight teams with 2-3 records were suddenly in the running for the eighth and final quarterfinal playoff spot (Saturday at 3:00pm on CBC-TV). According to the event rules four of those teams were promptly eliminated based on Draw Shot Distance or "shootout" scores. The remaining four teams will battle Saturday AM in two six-end tiebreaker draws, with the winning squad set to face Ontario's Glenn Howard in the playoff round. At 9:00am ET, Toronto's John Epping will face Rob Fowler of Brandon, Man. and Steve Bice of Sarni ...

Edmonton squad defeats Norwegians; stolen ends crush Walchuk OSHAWA, Ont. – First Kevin Martin won the lottery, then he cashed his cheque at the BDO Canadian Open in Oshawa, Ont. The Olympic curling champion escaped a grim 0-2 won/loss record when Brandon's Rob Fowler threw heavy in their Thursday morning match, handing the Edmonton squad the 5-4 victory and a 1-1 record. "Rob deserved to win," Martin declared after the match during a worldwide internet chat. "He just threw that last one a little too heavy. "Right now we're a little rusty with the mechanics. We've been playing (competitions) too much and not practicing enough, so next week before provincials we're going to work on the details." In Thursday night action at General Motors Place, Martin took advantage of his good fortune and defeated Norway's Thomas Ulsrud by a 6-4 scoreline to climb to 2-1 heading into Friday's round-robin finale. Martin ended the game with a flourish, making a triple-takeout to stave off an ex ...

European champions curl – and swim – in their crazy pants; Martin loses to Epping OSHAWA, Ont. – Back in Canada after a failed outing at the Continental Cup in Alberta, Norway's Team Thomas Ulsrud are once again displaying their Loud(mouth) pants for the world to see. And now they're swimming in them, too. "I forgot my swimsuit," said Ulsrud lead Havård Vad Petersson. "So I wore a pair of our pants in the hotel pool. It was interesting." The Olympic silver medallists rose from the dead to win their opening match of the 2011 BDO Canadian Open, the third of four elite tournaments in the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling series. Brandon's Rob Fowler held a two-point lead going into the final end of their Wednesday night game at the General Motors Centre but dropped a steal of two in the eighth end. The Manitobans then dropped another stolen deuce to fall 6-4. "The first four or five ends we weren't even on the sheet," said an amazed Ulsrud. Then things started to ...

One will throw for $1 million – or $100,000 with "help" – on live TV January 30 Interesting group includes non-curler from town of 700 in Newfoundland and Labrador OSHAWA, Ont. – They are coming from Canada's east and west and north, and they range in age from 20s to 60s. And four of them have never curled before. But one of them will soon have an epic choice to make, followed by an epic curling stone to throw – live on national television. Now in its third year, the Capital One Million Dollar Button contest attracted the interest of thousands of Canadians. Entrants signed up at previous Capital One Grand Slam of Curling events and also online at milliondollarbutton.ca and now five of the six national finalists have been confirmed, with only one remaining contestant to be selected during next week's BDO Canadian Open, Jan. 26-30 at Oshawa's General Motors Centre. The finalists will compete in a semi-final on site to decide the ultimate contestant, who will then choose one of two options: throw ...

Grand Slam of Curling is proud to announce that Team Stoughton will be our guest on a live stream interview, where his fans can ask questions and get answers in real-time. On Friday, Jan 28th @ 4:00pm ET, visit grandslamofcurling.com/chat/ to watch Team Stoughton interact with the viewers. You may also post a comment below for a chance to have your question answered.