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| Kevin Martin’s quest for a three-peat was ended by Wayne Middaugh (photo) in the semi-finals of the season’s second Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event |
(Dec 6, 2008) -- Kevin Martin’s quest for a three-peat was ended by Wayne Middaugh (photo) in the semi-finals of the season’s second Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event
QUEBEC CITY, December 6, 2008 – Brad Gushue (St. John’s, Nfld.) and Wayne Middaugh (Midland, Ont.) advanced to the finals of The National this evening following the conclusion of semi-final play at the men’s second Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event at ExpoCité in Quebec City.
Middaugh secured a place in the championship match by upsetting top seed Kevin Martin (Edmonton, Alta.) 5-2 while Gushue slid past Randy Ferbey (Edmonton, Alta.) 6-5 in the tournament’s other semi-final. Gushue and Middaugh both enter the final with identical 6-1 records.
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 the game, exclusively at www.cbcsports.ca/curling.
Sunday’s championship game will mark the first time in 11 Capital One Grand Slam of Curling events that neither Martin nor Glenn Howard (Coldwater, Ont.) advanced to the tournament final.
Aiming for a third consecutive championship at The National, Martin’s troubles began in the opening end. With an opportunity to execute a hit through a tight port for two points, Martin inadvertently rubbed a guard and removed his own stone, giving Middaugh a steal of two.
In the third end, Martin fell behind 3-0 after his draw to the four-foot came up heavy.
“I hate to give up opportunities,” said Martin. “We had a great opportunity to get a deuce in the first end and just missed. Then Wayne made two great shots (in the next two ends) and that was kind of the way it went.”
Trailing 3-2 in the seventh end, Martin’s hopes of a comeback faded after he flashed his final attempt, allowing Middaugh an open draw for two points.
“We stuck with our game plan and kept making the routine shots over and over and over again,” said Middaugh. “We were lucky that they missed a couple, which for Kevin’s team, just does not happen. We were just the lucky team that benefited from it.”
Middaugh previously captured the championship at The National in 2005-06. The former World Champion is currently ranked second all-time in Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event titles with seven. Martin is first overall with 13 career championships.
In the second semi-final, Gushue broke open the game in the fourth end after executing an open draw for three points and a 4-1 advantage.
After Ferbey rallied to tie the game at 5-5 heading into the final frame, Gushue held serve with the hammer to advance to his second career Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event final.
“Anytime you get to a final of one of these events it’s pretty good,” said Gushue. “You’re playing 18 of the best teams in the world and you got down to the final two. We’re looking forward to tomorrow.”
Gushue previously reached the championship game of the 2005 Players’ Championship in St. John’s, before falling to Martin.
In this afternoon’s quarterfinal matches, Middaugh scored two points in the eighth end to rally for a 6-5 victory over Kerry Burtnyk (Winnipeg, Man.) while Martin defeated Martin Ferland (Trois-Rivières, Que.) 5-4. Gushue advanced to the semi-finals with a 5-4 extra end win over Mike McEwen (Winnipeg, Man.). Ferbey capitalized on a flash by Jeff Stoughton (Winnipeg, Man.) in the sixth end to score three points en route to a 7-6 victory.
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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