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| Reigning World Champion joins Jeff Stoughton, Brad Gushue and Kerry Burtnyk (photo) as the top four seeds heading into the quarterfinals of the season’s second Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event |
(Dec 5, 2008) -- Reigning World Champion joins Jeff Stoughton, Brad Gushue and Kerry Burtnyk (photo) as the top four seeds heading into the quarterfinals of the season’s second Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event
QUEBEC CITY, December 5, 2008 – Reigning World Champion Kevin Martin (Edmonton, Alta.) remained in the hunt for a third consecutive title at The National after securing the top seed for tomorrow’s quarterfinal round at the men’s second Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event at ExpoCité in Quebec City.
Martin slid past China’s Fengchung Wang (Harbin, China) 6-3 today to complete round robin play as one of two teams with a perfect 5-0 record.
“It was a strong game\", said Martin. “Especially the first four ends. They were in a lot of trouble early and we made a lot of the draws to the front button and to the front four.”
Jeff Stoughton (Winnipeg, Man.) remained undefeated at The National after edging Joel Jordison (Moose Jaw, Sask.) 4-3. The win was Stoughton’s fifth straight at The National and his 12th consecutive victory on the World Curling Tour dating back to November’s Interlake Pharmacy Classic, where he captured the championship. Stoughton will begin the playoff round as the second seed.
“Your expectations are that you want to win every game,” said Stoughton. “So far it’s going well and if we can string together a couple tomorrow and one on Sunday that would be awesome.”
Reigning Olympic gold medallist Brad Gushue (St. John’s, Nfld.), Kerry Burntyk (Winnipeg, Man.), Wayne Middaugh (Midland, Ont.) and Mike McEwen (Winnipeg, Man.) all concluded round robin play with a 4-1 mark to secure the third, fourth, fifth and sixth playoff seeds respectively.
Four-time World Champion Randy Ferbey (Edmonton, Alta.) and Martin Ferland (Trois-Rivières, Que.) round out the quarterfinal field after each team concluded the preliminary round with a record of 3-2.
Glenn Howard’s (Coldwater, Ont.) bid for a third consecutive Capital One Grand Slam of Curling title and a seventh consecutive World Curling Tour event championship ended this morning after his squad fell 6-0 to Shawn Adams (Halifax, N.S.). The loss was Howard’s third straight of the tournament and eliminated the 2007 World Champion from playoff contention. After falling 6-5 to Middaugh in his final round robin match, Howard finished The National with a record of 1-4.
Tomorrow’s quarterfinal match-ups for The National are as follows. Note: Number in bracket denotes playoff seed.
The National – Quarterfinal Schedule
(1) Kevin Martin (Edmonton, Alta.) vs. (8) Martin Ferland (Trois-Rivières, Que.)
(4) Kerry Burtnyk (Winnipeg, Man.) vs. (5) Wayne Middaugh (Midland, Ont.)
(3) Brad Gushue (St. John’s, Nfld.) vs. (6) Mike McEwen (Winnipeg, Man.)
(2) Jeff Stoughton (Winnipeg, Man.) vs. (7) Randy Ferbey (Edmonton, Alta.)
CBC Television will air live coverage of the quarterfinals beginning tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. ET. The event’s semi-finals are set for later Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. ET and will air on CBC’s digital channel, bold.
The finals of The National will take place on Sunday, December 7 at 12:00 p.m. ET and will be shown live on CBC Television.
CBC Sports will also provide live broadband coverage of all playoff draws, exclusively at www.cbcsports.ca/curling.
The National features a total purse of $100,000. The tournament’s winning team will receive a maximum of $25,000.
Held annually since 2001-02, the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling is a series of eight premier men’s and women’s events that boast Canada’s deepest and strongest curling fields.
The Capital One Grand Slam of Curling is one of a select few events that are tied to the Canadian Curling Association\'s qualifying process for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. Through their performance in the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling events, rinks can earn points towards securing a berth at the 2009 Canadian Trials.
About Capital One
Located in Toronto, Ontario, Capital One has offered Canadian consumers a range of competitive MasterCard® credit cards since 1996, when the company first introduced the Platinum MasterCard® in Canada. Capital One Canada is a division of Capital One Bank, a subsidiary of Capital One Financial Corporation of McLean, Virginia (NYSE: COF).
About Insight Sports Ltd.
Insight Sports Ltd. is a leading North American sports media and entertainment company which owns, creates, aggregates and distributes sports and entertainment content across multiple platforms, including broadcast television, events, on-line, mobile, in-arena and video on-demand. Among its event assets, Insight Sports owns and operates the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling (www.worldcurlingtour.com), a series of eight high-profile men’s and women’s events that feature Canada’s deepest and strongest curling fields.
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