 Alberta's Kevin Koe (Photo: Anil Mungal, GSOC) defeated Ontario's Sam Mooibroek 7-1 to advance to the AMJ Masters Grand Slam of Curling Tier 2 semi-final. By Connor Simms, #30 World-Ranked Kevin Koe with Tyler Tardi at third, Aaron Sluchinski and Karrick Martin on the front end, are rolling so far this season. In their first event of the season at the ATB Okotoks Classic, Koe finished 4-2, losing the quarter-final to Manitoba's Reid Carruthers. Last season, Koe fell out of the slams in the point system. This season, the Grand Slam of Curling announced that Koe will return to the Tier 1 events in Nisku, Alberta, as a sponsor exemption. This week, they are in London, Ontario, playing in the AMJ Masters Tier 2 event. This is the first time Kevin has been a part of the Tier 2 event. Koe finished 3-1 in the 16-team qualifying round. In their opening game, Koe defeated Takumi Maeda (Kitami, JPN) 6-3, then went on to lose 7-2 against John Shuster (Chaska, MN). Koe responded with a 7-5 win over Jordon McDonald (Winnipeg, MB). Koe won 8-5 against Reid Carruthers (Winnipeg, MB) in their final qualifying round match. This set up a quarterfinal matchup with Ontario's Sam Mooibroek. Mooibroek won the opening game, drawing to the button for the hammer. In the first end, Koe stole a single point. Koe then followed it up with another steal of one. Mooibroek got on the board with a single in the third end. Koe broke the game open with four points in the fourth end and followed that up with another steal of one in the fifth. Mooibroek decided to call it there, giving Koe the 7-1 victory. Koe will now face Scotland's Kyle Waddell in the semi-finals tonight at 7:30 pm Eastern Time. In the other semi-final, Minnesota's Daniel Casper will face Minnesota's John Shuster. |
A five at the opening end of their first-ever match together in a major international competition sent Katie McMillan and Angus Bryce on their way to a dominant victory over the USA at the ACE & Company World Mixed Doubles Championships in Geneva.
