(Dec 21, 2008) -- CAMROSE, Canada -- North America heads into Sunday's Continental Cup finale trailing Team World by 14 points, 152 to 138, following a Saturday night to remember at the Edgeworth Centre.
North America's Kevin Koe rebounded from a disappointing event with an emphatic 28-2 men's skins victory over Team World's David Murdoch. North America's Stefanie Lawton upset an ailing Mirjam Ott of Switzerland, the European women's champion, 19-11 in women's skins.
Both team skips made enormous takeouts on their last shots of the seventh end, scoring double-digit skins points as the crowd erupted in cheers.
The marquee mixed skins game featuring Canada's defending world champion skips on the same team - Kevin Martin and Jennifer Jones - opposing the tandem of Norway?s Thomas Ulsrud and Sweden's Anette Norberg was declared a tie, with the teams splitting the 30 available points.
The North American team lineup was deemed to be illegal according to the rules in the Competitors Guide, but Team World's captain and coach - 2002 Olympic champion Pal Trulsen of Norway and three-time world champion Peja Lindholm of Sweden - allowed the match to continue, albeit with the agreed-upon points dissemination.
A further review revealed similar ineligible lineups during Saturday morning's first round of skins matches. Those results were also equalled by a split of the available points, resulting in the 152-138 total.
Sunday's showdown will feature two final skins games, worth 55 points each. The first team, World or North America, to reach 201 points shall win the sixth Continental Cup and the bulk of the $88,000 prize purse.
Team World's Norberg will battle North America's Jones at 10:30am ET (on TSN2) while the event will conclude with Team World's Ulsrud taking on North America?s Martin at 4:00pm ET (on TSN).
All matches are available for international online viewing at: www.tsn.ca shortly after each domestic television broadcast. |
