Howard aiming to win his eighth career Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event title while Koe looks to capture his first
MISSISSAUGA, ONT., October 24, 2009 – Glenn Howard (Coldwater, Ont.) will aim to win his eighth career Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event title tomorrow when he takes on Kevin Koe (Edmonton, Alta.) in the finals of the Grey Power World Cup of Curling. A tournament featuring five of Canada’s top 2010 Olympic hopefuls and nine international 2010 Olympic qualifiers, Sunday’s championship game will take place at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ont. at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Howard remained perfect at 8-0 and advanced to the final this evening with a 5-4 victory over Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud (Oslo, Norway) while Koe slid past Brad Gushue (St. John’s, Nfld.) 6-4 in the other semi-final. With the win, Koe improved to 6-2 at the event.
Sunday’s final will mark the third year in a row that Howard and Koe have qualified for the final of this event. Previously known as the Masters of Curling, Howard defeated Koe in the both previous event finals. Howard will also have an opportunity to win this event for the fourth year in a row after having captured the past three Masters of Curling championships.
With the victory, Howard has now qualified for the final in six of the past seven Capital One Grand Slam of Curling events. During that span, the 2007 World Championship gold medallist has won four Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event titles.
“We’re just so consistent,” said Howard. We don’t get bad games out of anybody. We don’t always stand on our head, but we don’t play poorly very often. If you’re consistent throughout, you’re going to win a lot of games.”
Leading Ulsrud 3-2 after five frames, Howard earned a key steal of one point after the Norwegian could only remove one of his opponent’s two partially hidden rocks with a takeout attempt.
Tied 4-4 with Ulsrud heading into the final frame, Howard executed a perfect tap back to the four-foot on the game’s final shot to score the winning point and advance to the final.
In the evening’s other semi-final, Koe surged ahead of Gushue in the fourth frame after executing an open hit for two points, and a 4-2 advantage.
In the fifth end, Koe was able to extend his lead to three points after Gushue came up light on his draw attempt, allowing for a steal of one.
The win qualified for Koe for his sixth career Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event final. Koe has yet to win a Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event title, going 0-5 in his previous finals appearances.
“It’s our sixth crack it,” said Koe referring to tomorrow’s final. “Hopefully, tomorrow’s the day. We’re probably playing better than we have in other years so I think we’ve got a good chance.”
The finals of the Grey Power World Cup of Curling will be shown live on CBC Television and CBCSports.ca. During the championship game, CBC will air the first on-site playoff of the Capital One Million Dollar Button contest during the fourth end break. For more information on theCapital One Million Dollar Button visit www.capitalone.ca/button.
In the afternoon’s quarterfinal action, Gushue stunned top ranked Kevin Martin (Edmonton, Alta.) 8-2.
Leading 3-2 after five ends, Gushue put the game away in the sixth after executing a hit through a port to score five points for an insurmountable advantage.
The loss was Martin’s first of the tournament after going a perfect 6-0 in the round robin.
“It was a good team effort – I’d say we all shot about 65 per cent,” said Martin jokingly. “The ice was great and Brad’s team made everything and we made nothing.”
The victory was Gushue’s third straight over Martin – with all three wins coming during the first two months of the 2009-10 season.
“The last three games against them, for some reason, we have the confidence when we go out and play them,” said Gushue. “We feel we’re as good as those guys and it’s just a matter of actually going out there and performing.”
In other quarterfinal action, Howard defeated Germany’s Andy Kapp (Fuessen, Germany) 8-5 while Koe cruised past Sweden’s Niklas Edin (Karlstad, Sweden) 7-2. Ulsrud advanced to the semi-finals with an 8-2 victory over Denmark’s Ulrik Schmidt (Copenhagen, Denmark)
The women’s Three Nations Cup concluded their round robin play this evening with Eve Muirhead (Perth, Scotland), Stefanie Lawton (Saskatoon, Sask.) and Bingyu Wang (Harbin, China) all finishing with identical 2-1 records.
Kleibrink finished round robin play with an 0-3 mark.
Based on their superior shootout scores, Muirhead and Lawton will meet in tomorrow’s championship game at while Wang will take on Shannon Kleibrink (Calgary, Alta.) in the consolation final. Both games are scheduled to take place at 9:00 a.m. ET.
In the evening draw for the Three Nations Cup, Lawton defeated Kleibrink 9-4 while Wang earned a 6-3 decision over Muirhead. Earlier in the day, Wang edged Kleibrink 8-7 and Muirhead defeated Lawton 7-2.
For a complete overview of this evening’s results, visit www.grandslamofcurling.com.
Related posts:
- Martin and Howard to Meet in Second Straight BDO Classic Canadian Open Final
- Martin, Howard & Koe Remain Unbeaten at Grey Power World Cup of Curling
- Glenn Howard Wins Grey Power World Cup of Curling
- Gushue, Ulsrud, Edin, Schmit And Kapp Final Five
- Martin and Howard Through to the Quarterfinals of the Grey Power World Cup of Curling
Tags: capital one grand slam of curling, glenn howard, Grey Power World Cup of Curling, kevin koe