 Calgary's Kevin Koe (Photo: Anil Mungal/GSOC) needs a win Friday to stay alive. By: Cameron Sallaj The revised Kevin Koe lineup, which now includes Aaron Sluchinski, Tyler Tardi and Karrick Martin recorded their first win at the Co-op Canadian Open Thursday in a 5-2 decision over Switzerland's Michael Brunner rink from Bern. Starting with the hammer, Koe got off to a hot start with a perfect angle redirect to remove the buried Brunner stone and count two in the opening end. The Swiss later tightened the score with one in the third and a steal of one in the fourth. Into the second half, Team Koe regained their two-point lead with a deuce in the fifth and later increased the gap with a single steal in the seventh. Needing three to force an extra, Team Brunner was run out of stones in the eighth end with Koe taking the victory to stay alive.  WATCH Draw 12: Brunner vs KoeTeam Koe, which has struggled so far this season, currently ranks nineteenth in the world, now out of the top sixteen required to be invited to the Grand Slams. A strong showing in Nisku, however, will put the team right back into the mix as they build towards qualification for the Olympic Trials next year in Halifax. On Friday, Team Koe will face Team Niklas Edin of Sweden where they will need a win to stay alive and break their streak of failing to reach the playoffs at Grand Slam events, which now stands at six straight events. Team Brunner has been eliminated at 0-3. Elsewhere, Teams Ross Whyte and Brad Gushue each locked up a spot in the final eight with strong victories Thursday night. The Scotts won 6-2 over Team Reid Carruthers (0-3; Winnipeg, MB) while Gushue clipped Team Edin (2-1; Karlstad, SWE) 5-4. Team James Craik (1-2; Forfar, SCO) also kept their playoff hopes alive with a convincing 8-2 rout of Team Joel Retornaz (2-1; Cembra, ITA). The Co-op Canadian Open continues Thursday with Draw 13 beginning at 8:30 AM Mountain Time. All game streams are linked to the CurlingZone Scoreboard and accessed by clicking the red play button. |
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Kitami's Satsuki Fujisawa (Photo: Hokkaido Curling Tour) was clinical in 2025-26 tour debut.
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