The Morning Cup - Day 3 Edition

CANADA CUP OF CURLING – MORNING CUP - March 2009 - Page 1

'ALLAGHER #ENTRE s -ARCH

The

Morning Cup

Presented by

THE NEWS REVIEW

Official Newspaper of the Canada Cup of Curling

Teams jockeying for playoff positions in Canada Cup

Torontoʼs Wayne Middaugh has his eyes focused on a playoff spot. The former world champion enters todayʼs action with a 2-1 record.

See story, Page 3

Page 2 - CANADA CUP OF CURLING – MORNING CUP - March 2009

It’s not all gravy, yet Larouche paying bills with Canada Cup wins

By LARRY WOOD Morning Cup Editor

M

Marie-France Larouche has rolled to an undefeated 3 and 0 record.

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arie-France Larouche of StRomuald, P.Q., remained the lone unbeaten team in Canada Cup women’s championship play on Thursday at the Gallagher Arena.

Larouche, in her only outing of the day, knocked off Edmonton veteran Cathy King 8-6 and heads into the final round-robin schedule with games against winless defending champion Stefanie Lawton and fellow Saskatchewan smoothie Amber Holland (2-2).

“We are just making good shots,” said the tertiary finisher SEE at last month’s RESULTS, Scotties Tournament Of Hearts in Page 10 Victoria. “We pay no attention to perceived pressure.”

Larouche broke into a smile.

“We have won three games ($800 per) so now we can eat,” she chirped. “And now we can fly home.’’

And the rest is gravy, right?

“No, no,” she cautioned. “Not gravy yet because we have hotel bills. We have to win some more.”

Regina’s surprising Michelle Englot also boasted three wins on Thursday to go with one loss. Englot trounced winless Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater, Ont., 9-3 on the late shift after earlier handing Mary-Anne

Arsenault of Halifax her first loss, 7-5 in the afternoon.

Arsenault shared a 2-1 mark with Shannon Kleibrink of Calgary and Kelly Scott of Kelowna. At 2-2 were Holland and King.

Calgary’s Cheryl Bernard won her first outing of the piece, 8-5 over Lawton of Saskatoon.

“We’ve been struggling with the rocks but a win’s a win,” said Bernard. “All we want is a W. Anything for a W. We’re usually pretty good with our backs to the wall and we have to win our last two. We seem to be able to dig out. I think we will get on a roll.”

WOMEN Bernard tackles Arsenault and King today.

King stole a 7-4 verdict from Holland on Thursday night. It was Holland’s second loss of the day after going 2-and-0 on Day One. Kleibrink needed an extra end to subdue Holland 9-8 in the afternoon.

“We’re on the upswing now,” assessed Kleibrink, who has qualified for the Canadian Olympic trials at Edmonton next December along with absent Canadian champion Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg.

“We had a little dip in the middle of the season where we didn’t play that well.”

Kleibrink, a native of nearby Norquay, winds it up against Scott and Middaugh today.

PLEASE SEE WOMEN P11

CANADA CUP OF CURLING – MORNING CUP - March 2009 - Page 3

Martin rides lucky streak Winning with smoke and mirrors

By LARRY WOOD Morning Cup Editor

H

e’s 4-and-0!

Going into Thursday night’s tussle at the Farrell Agencies Arena, he said he should have been 0-and-3!

Whatever the case, Edmonton’s Kevin Martin, who repeated as Brier champion last week at Calgary, has some kind of charm riding on his shoulder at the Canada Cup. “Whatever it is, I hope it doesn’t fall off,” Martin said Thursday. “I’m just not playing very well.

MEN “I don’t know. I’m not clear in the head right yet. A few more sleeps and we’ll see if I can shake it off.

“It seems like we’re throwing pretty good but we’re just not getting the results. It’s a little frustrating but we’re also getting a little fortunate so what the heck?”

What the heck, indeed!

Martin cracked his fourth straight win with an 7-6 night-shift win over Saville Centre rival Ted Appelman of Edmonton, a comparative babe in the woods on a sheet of ice with Martin and his powerhouse lineup of John Morris, Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert.

Appelman had battled back to square the account heading into the 10th end but couldn’t force Martin to wield the hammer to win.

Earlier, Martin rallied for three straight wins. On Thursday morning, Mike McEwen (2-2) of Winnipeg gassed an open draw to the four-foot to yield an 8-7 duke. On Day One, Martin’s turnaround victims were Russ Howard and Brad Gushue.

“It’s a big opportunity for us playing here,” said Appelman. “For some of our guys it’s the biggest event they’ve played in.

It was a little unnerving the first two games.

But we’re a little more comfortable now and it showed today. We played really well.”

Which means nothing much when you’re tangling with Martin who has found more winning routes than you’ll find in Nevada “Hey,” said Appelman. “We’re looking at the top teams in Canada and we’re a little out of our comfort zone. The first day it really showed in our play.

“It’s that old saying, you have to be lucky to win but you have to be good to be lucky.

What can you say, they’re the best team in the world right now.”

PLEASE SEE MEN P11

Kevin Martin has pulled off some great escapes to remain unbeaten.

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Page 4 - CANADA CUP OF CURLING – MORNING CUP - March 2009

The Wood file

EDITOR Larry Wood ASSOCIATE EDITOR Dave Komosky PHOTOGRAPHER Mike Burns Jr. PUBLISHED BY The News Review

Gushue major critic of selection process for Canadaʼs reps in Olympic curling

F

rustration is gnawing away at Brad Gushue in more ways than one.

The defending Olympic gold medallist has been nicked for a number of 10th-end setbacks the past couple of weeks — two of them by Brier champion Kevin Martin — and there’s evidence the adversity is beginning to manifest itself as wear and tear.

But Gushue’s agony isn’t confined to the ice lanes at the Gallagher Centre right now. What is even more annoying is the fact that eight teams have been assured of starting-gate berths in either the eight-team Canadian Olympic trials or the 12-team Olympic pre-trials and Gushue’s Newfoundlanders aren’t included.

Yet. “It seems,” he was saying this week, “to be part of the system that guys are playing hard early and they get their spot and they’re able to sit back and, maybe not take a year off, but maybe not push as hard. I don’t think that’s a positive thing. I think you constantly want to try to improve.”

Gushue, who has been a severe critic from the get-go of the current system to declare Canada’s Olympic reps, feels

Larry WOOD

he’s forged improvement by toughening up his front end . . . but at great expense.

“I think this system really punishes a team like ours,” he said. “We were trying to improve and we made changes in our lineup and because it was a significant change with two players we lost all of our points. That denied us any chance of getting directly into the trials. But all we were trying to do was get better. I don’t think that’s a positive thing to say to all of the teams around here.

“I think there a lot of teams that actually stayed together because they didn’t want to do what we did, to start from zero. So you’re going to have teams that are going to be stale or with guys who just don’t like each other playing at the pre-trials because of this format.

“The system needs some re-working before the next tri-

Brad Gushue, the 2006 gold-medal winner, is still chasing a berth in the Olympic curling trials. have qualified. And I don’t think that’s a positive thing als process. I don’t think it’s right that you have some going into the trials which is probably the most pressureteams that aren’t playing very well this year that already packed event you’ve ever play in next to the Olympics. are qualified, and you have some teams that are perform“So you want to have performed in and have won a big ing very well right now and they’re not qualified. So I event leading into that and, you know, there’s going to be think there needs to be some tweaking for sure.” half-dozen teams if not more that haven’t recently won Canada can’t improve next year on Gushue’s effort at anything going into this.”

Torino in 2006 so he doesn’t understand the reasons Ironically, winning events was the reason this new sysbehind the new convoluted points and qualification rules.

“I’d like to see it go back to the other system where you tem was devised. But instead of the one or two non-winners who slipped in for the 2005 Trials, there could be have to win to get in,” he says, thereby making perfect many more easing into the starting gate this time. sense.

“Right now, there are a lot of teams that haven’t won any significant events that are either going to qualify or already PLEASE SEE WOOD P6

CANADA CUP OF CURLING – MORNING CUP - March 2009 - Page 5

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These ladies have their game together

By LARRY WOOD Morning Cup Editor

ueen Colleen, she of the half-dozen Canadian women’s curling titles, may not be around the ice lanes any more but that doesn’t mean Bluenose gals are tossing in the towel and standing on Jones’s laurels.

Which is why Mary-Anne Arsenault and Kay Zinck, a pair of Jones alumnus from down Halifax way, are tossing boulders at the Gallagher Centre this week with a reformed team that’s boldly attempting to barge into the Canadian Olympic curling pre-trials in its first year.

“We need points big-time,” admits Arsenault, who won five national titles delivering second stones for the old Jones juggernaut.

“And we’ve had a pretty good year except for one little boo-boo. So we’re we’re quietly confident.”

And these women should be. With Laine Peters at second and Theresa Breen, a fourtime Scotties vice-skip with Anne

Merklinger at lead, there’s a tote-bag of experience here.

Arsenault is tossing the last rocks and Zinck, a Canadian junior champion skip in 1980 and Queen Colleen’s initial Scottieswinning vice-skip in 1982, is directing traffic and throwing third. The team qualified undefeated in two major events this season including the Canada Cup Qualifiers at Ottawa.

But then there was that “boo-boo”.

Sailing into the Nova Scotia provincial final without a setback, a sudden one-game collapse cost them a week’s competitive head-knocking at the Scotties in Victoria.

“We forgot how to curl that day,” recalls Arsenault, a nine-time Scotties participant at 40 years of age. “I have no idea what happened. It’s a mystery. We all played terribly.

We talked about it. We didn’t do anything different. The ice was different but that happens when it’s the only game out there. So it isn’t that we weren’t prepared for that. But . . . it was ugly.

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Page 6 - CANADA CUP OF CURLING – MORNING CUP - March 2009

Brad Gushue says the system just adds to the grind for some teams.

Wood From Page 4 “I think you go back to the old system and if you don’t win the event it goes to the CTRS or something like that,” argued Gushue. “I think it can be simplified much better. The argument they made to sell me on this system was you had to win to get in but when it comes down to the 12 teams in the pre-trials and the four teams direct to the trials — out of those 16, there’ll be at least eight or nine that have not won a significant event. By that I mean a Grand Slam, a Canada Cup, a Brier, the Players, or even a bigger cashspiel. And even when you get to the pre-trials you don’t have to win them, you just have to qualify through the B or C side and be one of the surviving four.”

Gushue also worries about the ongoing grind that doesn’t favour his far-flung team and what’s liable to transpire post-Olympics as a result.

“This system just adds to the grind that has been going on for four years,” he said. “And there’s going for be a lot of guys taking the year off after this.

“I agree with Randy’s (Ferbey’s) assessment (of the CTRS system). You start looking around hoping guys are losing so you can pass them on the points list.

“We’ve played so much this year because we started off at zero. We’ve played much more than we’d like and we’re pretty tired.

Honestly, I could hardly stand on my leg the last couple of weeks. I’ve been training so hard and playing so many events.

“I don’t think that’s a positive thing but it’s a necessary thing under the system that we have. We have to secure a spot.”

Everybody knows, of course, that Gushue’s team averages two plane flights to every com-

petition compared to one for most other contenders. When his team heads west, it’s a day out and a day back in addition to the playing time.

“It comes down to trying to earn enough points,” he said. “If you could tailor your schedule for three or four events, or if you knew that if you won those events you’d be in, I think that’s a more positive thing for someone leading into the Olympics. If you win one of those events you can’t play in the next one.

Or something like that. There are a lot of things that could be done.”

And another thing.

“I just don’t like it that the general curling fan has no idea what’s going on,” he said. “It took me two years to figure it out. There hasn’t been a lot of explanation.”

Gushue stands third in the points standings for the current year.

“It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” he said. “A year out from the trials and we’re third in Canada by a decent margin of close to 25 points and you’ve got to scratch your head a little bit when the third team is not in yet and is really not going to be better off than a guy who qualified two years ago.”

Gushue suggests the powers-that-be knocked off for a year following the Olympics, then set up a system whereby the next three Brier winners, the next three Canada Cup winners, the next three Players champions and then the top points guy after that, form the field for Olympic trials.

“You’re going to get consistency and teams that win,” he said. “And it’s going to be very easy to understand for the fans.

“Then teams that are geographically challenged like us and other Atlantic teams and guys in B.C. can tailor their schedules around those big events, really get geared up for those and if you win, you’re in, and if you don’t then you have to play a little bit more and a little bit harder to get higher in the points standings.”

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“But other than that, it’s been a good season and we’re still on line for our goals. The miscue getting to the Scotties wasn’t the beall and end-all, luckily. I would have preferred to keep playing with the big games that you get at the Scotties. But we took a little time off after the provincials and then got back to practising.

“The trouble is not very many people were left playing. Once the playdowns are done people hang up the boots, right? So it’s hard to get a good game. We had some practise games against the Nova Scotia senior men’s team (Bryan MacPherson of Mayflower). They were a good opponent for us.”

The 47-year-old Zinck, who has made six Scotties appearances, has one overbearing attribute.

“I’m always gung-ho,” she says. “Once I step on the ice in the fall it’s all about winning.”

Zinck was planning to take this season off because of nagging knee problems. But she decided to speed up a medical solution after Arsenault called last spring, looking for a replacement for retiring Kim Kelly.

“Mary-Anne said the three of them already were formed and asked, ‘Would you come and call the game and play third?’ I said, ‘Mary-Anne, I don’t even know if I can. My knee’s still hurting me.’

“I went out and curled and had the same knee pain that I had before. So I talked to a surgeon and he gave me a couple of options.

The quickest option was to get a scope in two weeks. So in April I had a scope on my knee, they cleaned it out, and I worked on conditioning over the summer. In the fall it gave me a little trouble in the beginning but now it’s pretty good.

“It actually was just wear and tear on the joint from 36 years of throwing rocks and squatting on that knee. It was really about the endurance of time.”

The team has dominated the Nova Scotia

scene this season. Except for that one blip.

“I thought we were physically and mentally prepared but we came out flat,” recalls Zinck. “We were up two at the half but we were really fighting for it and nobody was throwing real pretty. Each of us admitted it was probably the worst game of her life. It was hard to pick an all-star.

“We worked through it, took some time, talked to a lot of people, pulled in a sports psychologist and tried to all find that comfort zone and put that one to bed. I think every competitive team has had one of those. Every athlete, too. On that one that given day we got outcurled. You have to accept that and move on.”

That aside, says Zinck, “we have a blast together and it doesn’t matter if we’re in tough situations or not, we’re a team that pulls together and we really support each other. It has been an enjoyable year”.

A year ago, Arsenault’s team labelled it’s hotel rooms during the Scotties as “the vineyard”.

“Let’s just say,” quips Zinck, “that I can’t really keep up with them (other three) and I’m the first one to go to bed.”

Arsenault operates a massage clinic while Zinck is a practising physiotherapist 70 per cent of the time and a clinic manager the other 30 per cent.

“I’ve probably ’spieled harder than I have in quite a while,” she says of her new alignment. “It’s been a few years since I’ve travelled like this to get the competition that we don’t have locally. But, in the east, it’s definitely something you have to commit to.

“It’s like all amateur sports, you know? I work full time, I have three children, I put on my chef’s hat and then I put on my chauffeur’s hat, so it’s the time away from the family that’s a major commitment. It’s going to get easier in the next couple of years but I’ll be that much older. But, come seniors . . if my knee holds out . . .”

This team is aware that destiny in its hands here at the Canada Cup. But success at this stage is paramount.

“We also know there are no gimmes here,” said Zinck. “We have to show the Agame every game this week.

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CANADA CUP OF CURLING – MORNING CUP - March 2009 - Page 9

Yorktonʼs Loretta Lusney is one of a dozen people lined up to score games at the Canada Cup of Curling.

Love them or hate them, stats are here to stay

By DAVE KOMOSKY Morning Cup Associate Editor

I

t happens every day at major curling events.

A number of people settle into their chairs on press row and take out their laptop computers. But they aren’t journalists. They’re members of the Canadian Curling Association stats crew.

Long gone are the days when the only thing that matered were wins and loses at events such as the Canada Cup of Curling. Now there are people keeping track of every shot, inturn and out-turn, and recording it for posterity.

This is curling in the new era and it gives curlers and fans a bit more information.

Which isn’t a bad thing. Curling’s been chronically understaticized. All you see in the papers are the scorelines and money lists. If you can add information, it’s all good. It’s nothing near what they do in baseball and other sports, but it certainly has come a long way since felt boots and corn brooms.

But all this emphasis on stats begs the question: does anyone need a plethora of statistics being produced by the Roarin’ Game these days?

Some think they have an important place in the game, especially for fans who want more information.

“For the most part they’re pretty good,” says John Morris, who is throwing third stones for Brier champ Kevin Martin at the Canada Cup this week. “They still indicate if that person’s playing a strong game or not and that’s helpful for the fans watching.”

Former world women’s champion Kelly Scott of Kelowna says some stats can be a great scouting tool.

“You look for trends . . . turn preference, how their draw weight has been. Sometimes a player has a better feel for one turn or another. Those can be important to know,” she says.

Every shot made at the Gallagher Centre is graded on a scale of 0-to-4, with the exception of the odd ‘circus’ shot or two which warrants a five. There’s even been a couple of sixs scored at previous championships. Jennier Jones of Winnipeg scored a six for her shot that won the Scott Tournament of

championship in 2005. It’s all up to the discretion of the statistician.

Of course, there’s an element of subjectivity in scoring.

And that’s where some players take issue with the numbers. A scorer has to know exactly what the skip was asking his player to play in order to score it correctly. The skip doesn’t always make his/her intentions clear, and who can read their mind?

In other words, there is a lot of room for human error.

“And that’s why I have trouble with them,” says Olympic champion Russ Howard of Moncton, who is very vocal about stats. “I don’t think they’re correct. Get rid of them. They’re totally irrelevant. I think it’s nearly s. jor issue with statistic impossible, so don’t do it.”

Russ Howard has a ma Howard says it’s impossible to score a game correctly because a scorer doesn’t really know what’s the skip’s intenMorris says a degree of difficulty should be worked into tion. the stats package.

The issue came to a head in Salmon Arm, B.C., where “A lot of teams will play defensive and obviously their Howard’s daughter Ashley was competing for New shots are easier,” he says. “So naturally they are going to Brunswick at the Canadian junior championship. score higher than somebody playing aggressively.”

“I sat with the guy in Salmon Arm and he said to me ‘is There’s another side of stats Howard doesn’t like. that where they want to put it?’ He didn’t even know. So if “It hurts a lot of teams,” he says. “My daughter’s team had you don’t know, how do you score it? trouble accepting some bad scores. They saw the bad scores “I’m sure there’s some great statisticians, but they don’t and lost their confidence.” even know what we’re trying to play half the time.

Of course there are some statistics that are totally meaningSometimes you call a B plan and you get nothing for it. We ful because there is no subjectivity involved. Stats for force had a pick one end that overcurled. That looks like a zero but efficiency, steal efficiency and hammer efficiency are strictly it was a well-thrown rock.” black-and-white numbers and indicate trends. Force efficienMorris agrees. cy documents how often you force another team to take a sin“Sometimes you play a great game,” he says, “and the stats gle point or less if you don’t have the hammer. Steal efficienhave you at 75 or 80 and sometimes you think you’ve had an cy charts how often you steal a point without having the hamaverage game and you’re up there in the 90s. It makes you mer. And hammer efficiency counts how well you do with shake your head sometimes.” last rock.

Sharon Thiessen-Woods of Winnipeg is the head statistiVeteran curling reporters see these stats as a welcome comcian for the Canada Cup, and agrees the art of scoring is plement to the player percentages which have been charted somewhat subjective. But the scorers — all local — are all since 1985. knowledgeable in the game and operate under strict scoring Like them or not, Morris says stats are always going to be guidelines. In short, they’re doing the best they can. part of the game.

Howard says the only people really qualified to score a “It’s great to have the volunteers to do the stats,” he says. game are the players themselves.

“We appreciate that as players. But I don’t think it’s the be“They’re the only ones who know what they’re trying to do.” all and end-all. ”

Page 10 - CANADA CUP OF CURLING – MORNING CUP - March 2009

LINESCORES THURSDAY DRAW 5 9 a.m.

MEN Russ Howard (a) Kevin Koe (b) S HOWARD 80 Kerry Burtnyk (b) Ted Appelman (b) S BURTNYK 80

101 010 P 235

P 261

% 82

0 3

010 100 S 79

0 1

000 210 S GUSHUE 80

1 0

020 200

0 1

200 021 APP.

100 010 % 88 001 210

P 262

011 100 S 80

KOE 010 001

Wayne Middaugh (a) Brad Gushue (a) S P MIDD. 79 278 Mike McEwen (a) Kevin Martin (a) S McEWEN 80

% 73

001 110

% 82

302 020

040 101 S MARTIN 79

— — P 265 — — P 262 — — P 274 — — P 255

5 7 % 83 4 6 % 83 7 6 % 86 7 8 % 81

WOMEN Sherry Middaugh (a) Kelly Scott (a) S P MIDD. 56 163

010 101 % 73

201 020

0xx 6xx S SCOTT 56

x x

— 4 — 10 P % 181 81

MEN

WOMEN

POOL A

POOL A W 4 2 2 1 0

Kevin Martin Wayne Middaugh Mike McEwen Brad Gushue Russ Howard

L 0 1 2 3 3

Michelle Englot Mary-Anne Arsenault Shannon Kleibrink Kelly Scott Sherry Middaugh

W 3 2 2 2 0

L 1 1 1 1 4

W 3 2 2 1 0

L 0 2 2 2 3

POOL B

POOL B W 3 2 2 1 1

Jeff Stoughton Randy Ferbey Kevin Koe Kerry Burtnyk Ted Appelman

L 0 1 2 3 3

Marie-France Larouche Amber Holland Cathy King Cheryl Bernard Stefanie Lawton

DRAW 7 4:30 p.m.

DRAW 6 1:30 p.m.

MEN WOMEN Shannon Kleibrink (a) Amber Holland (b) S P KLEIB. 87 285

202 020 % 82

100 020

201 020 S HOLL. 88

Mary-Anne Arsenault (a) 000 Michelle Englot (a) 011 S P % ARSENAULT 80 230 72

020 100 S ENGLOT 80

0 2

Cathy King (b) 001 Marie-France Larouche (b) 020 S P % KING 80 281 88

100 012

202 030 S 79

x x

201 020 S BERN. 75

x x

102 010

0 1

Stefanie Lawton (b) Cheryl Bernard (b) S P LAWTON 78 223

001 130 % 71

003 110

01 — 9 20 — 8 P % 259 74

LAR. 010 002

— — P 235 — — P 260 — — P 240

5 7 % 73 6 8 % 82 5 8 % 80

Ted Appelman (b) Kevin Martin (a) S APP. 79 Jeff Stoughton (b) Kerry Burtnyk (b) S STOUGHTON 71 Kevin Koe (b) Randy Ferbey (b) S KOE 79

101 010 P 269

% 85 020 101

P 244

% 86 010 101

P 257

% 81

010 302

210 000 S MARTIN 79

0 1

021 100

021 200 S BURT. 71

x x

010 001

0 1

201 020 S FERB. 80

— — P 277 — — P 224 — — P 258

6 7 % 88 8 5 % 79 5 6 % 81

WOMEN Michelle Englot (a) Sherry Middaugh (a) S P ENGLOT 62 200

011 200 % 81

301 010

3xx 0xx S MIDD. 63

x x

011 200

0 1

— — P 187

9 3 % 74

MEN Brad Gushue (a) Mike McEwen (a) S GUSHUE 80

010 301 P 236

% 74

010 101 S McEW. 80

— — P 267

DRAW (TIME) 8 — 9 a.m.

TODAY ON THE ICE

9 — 1:30 p.m.

10 — 6 p.m.

5 8 % 83

Amber Holland (b) Cathy King (b) S P HOLLAND 80 255

A

001 200 % 80

100 020 S KING 79

B

— — P 248

4 7 % 78

C

Cheryl Bernard Marie-France Larouche Kelly Scott vs. vs. vs.

Mary-Anne Arsenault Stefanie Lawton Shannon Kleibrink

It hasnʼt been a great week for Sherry Middaugh.

D

E

Randy Ferbey vs.

Jeff Stoughton

Russ Howard vs.

Wayne Middaugh

Mike McEwen vs.

Randy Ferbey

Kelly Scott vs.

Mary-Anne Arsenault

Cathy King vs.

Cheryl Bernard

Kerry Burtnyk vs.

Kevin Koe

Ted Appelman vs.

Jeff Stoughton

Stefanie Lawton vs.

Michelle Englot

Wayne Middaugh vs.

Kevin Martin

Brad Gushue vs.

Russ Howard

Mary-Anne Arsenault vs.

Amber Holland

Shannon Kleibrink vs.

Sherry Middaugh

CANADA CUP OF CURLING – MORNING CUP - March 2009 - Page 11

Men From Page 3 Not much argument there. But the Martins still had one opponent today — he closes against Wayne Middaugh (2-1) of Toronto— before advancing to the Page playoff system involving the top two teams from each of the round-robin sections.

“It’s tough coming down from the Brier,” agreed Martin. “There’s inspiration here but it’s hard to find. You have to dig deep and we actually are digging deep but we keep having to come from behind. But we have and we’ve won so that bodes well. But it’s sure nothing fancy.”

Martin disagreed that the invisible target on his back was any more magnified than usual.

“I’m missing a lot of shots,” he said. “I’m down 20 per cent from the Brier. I’m just shooting about 70 right now and just staying close and hoping for a break and we’ve — whew! — got ’em so far.”

Martin said the Farrell freeze was improving with every draw, a contention that brought a chuckle from head icemaker Tim Yeo of Gibbons, Alta.

“Four draws the first day is tough,” said Yeo. “You can’t tinker with anything because it’s in use all the time. It’s tough to work on improvements when there are games all the time. It takes more than a day to bring good ice around.”

Jeff Stoughton of Winnipeg, Martin’s victim in the Brier final last Sunday, remained unbeaten in the other section of the split

round-robin draw but faced two opponents today — Randy Ferbey (2-1) and Appelman (1-3).

Stoughton’s lone assignment on Thursday was aginst his provincial final opponent, Kerry Burtnyk. Stoughton reiterated his superiority there, by an 8-5 count.

Ferbey’s last-rock shooter Dave Nedohin delivered a last-rock chip to defeat defending champion Kevin Koe (2-2) of Edmonton 6-5.

Earlier, Koe dumped Russ Howard (0-3) of Oromocto, N.B. 7-5, Appelman upended Burtnyk 6-4 and Middaugh shaded Brad Gushue (1-3) of St. John’s 7-6. Gushue lost his second of the day, 8-5 to McEwen “Things haven’t been going our way the past few weeks,” moaned Gushue. “We’re digging ourselves deep holes.”

This is the first tournament in two years that Koe has taken over last-rock duties as well as shot-calling for his defending champion team that normally calls for third Balke MacDonald to toss the last pair.

“We’ve been struggling a bit and I thought we’d try changing it up and pick up a bit of a spark,” said Koe. “It’s by no means permanent but if you keep winning it’s tough to change. We haven’t had the greatest year and we’re all confident with the lineup like this as well. I don’t think it’s a big deal.”

Koe isn’t out of this affair yet and gets Burtnyk in his last match today.

Against Howard, Koe executed a perfect double with his last rock with his opponent lying the shot rock buried.

“That’s one of my better spots to throw that shot and it just hung on,” Koe said.

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Edmontonʼs Cathy King lets fly during Canada Cup action on Thursday.

Women From Page 2 Scott hit for a whopping six-ender during her lone Thursday assignment against Middaugh.

Tied 4-4 playing the seventh, third Jeanna Schraeder and skip Scott executed double takeouts — Scott with the hammer — which led to the big six.

“We had a few kickers there,” said twotime Canadian champion Scott of Kelowna.

“We haven’t won like that in a while. I’d like to take a picture of that scoreboard.

“Every game we’re getting a bit tighter with our margin of error and our draw weight and comfort with the ice.”

Said Middaugh: “We’re too rusty. We can’t seem to get untracked. This isn’t going to be our week.”

King, 49, is directing a team that has been in upheaval all season.

“I said at the last Olympic trials that was going to be it,” said the 1998 Scotties cham-

pion of a planned retirement at the time.

“Then we won the Canada Cup so then we started to play and now here we are again.

“We’ve lost two close games but we’re playing pretty well. There were a couple of shots here and there that we could have made a little better.”

It has been a topsy-turvy season for King.

“My third, Lori Olson, showed up three months pregnant in August,” said King. “We knew we were going to have to make a change somewhere during the season. You know how pregnancies go, they can be really iffy. Lori had to leave early because of some pregnancy issues and we’ve had to grab a few spares so that made it a little tough on us but our spares have been fine.”

Currently, Canadian junior champion skip Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg is filling in at vice-skip and “she’s playing great”.

Olson, meanwhile, has given birth and will return to the King lineup next fall.

“We think there’s a good chance we’ll be in the trials,” said King, “but we’ll have to wait until next month to find out for certain.”

Page 12 - CANADA CUP OF CURLING – MORNING CUP - March 2009

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