Team Gushue

Canadian Curling Association - Gushue fails to make playoffs; Howard, Martin clinch top spots at Strauss Canada Cup

Thursday, February 02, 2006
Source: Canadian Curling Association

KAMLOOPS, February 2, 2006…The Brad Gushue team, which will head to Torino, Italy next week as Canada’s representative in the men’s Olympic curling competition, has also been eliminated from the Strauss Canada Cup playoffs. Canada’s Olympic women’s team, skipped by Calgary’s Shannon Kleibrink, was eliminated from the playoffs, as well, this morning.

Thursday afternoon at the Interior Savings Centre, Gushue got smoked by Edmonton’s Mark Johnson, 11-3, to fall to 1-3 in Section B. The game started poorly for the St. John’s skip, as Johnson counted four in the first end. At the fifth end break, the margin was 7-3. Then in the sixth, another Johnson four-ender made it 11-3, signalling the end for Gushue’s hopes for a playoff spot, in his team’s final tune-up prior to the curling event in Pinerolo, February 13-24.

In another key matchup in Draw 8, John Morris of Calgary whipped Randy Ferbey of Edmonton, 8-3 to move to 3-1 in Section A, a game behind Glenn Howard of Coldwater, who is a perfect 4-0. The result means that Howard clinches first place regardless of Friday morning’s final round robin draw results, since he defeated Morris, 7-3 earlier. Ferbey dropped to 2-2.

Morris plays Brad Heidt of Kerrobert on Friday. If Morris wins, two-time Cup winner Ferbey will be eliminated from the playoffs, in which only the top two teams in each section qualify, after any required tie-breakers.

The other two teams in Section A, Glen Despins of Regina, at 1-3 and Heidt, at 0-4, an 8-3 loser to Edmonton’s Kevin Martin, were eliminated earlier from the playoffs.

In Section B, Martin, the defending Cup champion, has locked up first place at 4-0, regardless of the outcome of his game Friday against Jim Cotter of Kelowna. That’s because his closest pursuer, Bob Ursel of Kelowna, is at 3-1 and already lost to Martin earlier in the week, 6-5.

With the win, Johnson improved to 2-2, followed by Gushue and a winless Cotter at 0-4. If Johnson defeats Ursel Friday at 8:30 am in the final game of the round robin, those two will wind up tied with 3-2 marks and would have to play a tie-breaker.

One playoff pairing that is confirmed is Glenn Howard against Kevin Martin in the cross-over Page game featuring Section A and B winners Saturday afternoon. The winner will advance to Sunday morning’s final, while the loser goes to Saturday night’s semi-final.

On the women’s side, Renée Sonnenberg of Grande Prairie pulled into a three-way tie for the lead in Section A by defeating previously unbeaten Sandy Comeau of Moncton, 10-8, stealing two in an extra end when Comeau was well light with her four-foot draw attempt. Regina’s Jan Betker is also at 3-1. Both Janet Harvey of Winnipeg and Kleibrink are out of it at 1-3.

In Section B, Edmonton’s Cathy King defeated Calgary’s Heather Rankin, 7-5 to improve to 3-1, while Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones and Kelowna’s Kelly Scott are 2-2. Rankin dropped to 1-3, joining Heather Strong of St. John’s.

However, nobody has been eliminated yet in Section B nor has first place been confirmed. The final draw of the women’s round robin goes this evening at 7:00 pm.

Ten men’s and 10 women’s teams began the week seeking the $33,500 first place prize, along with a return trip to the 2007 renewal as defending champions.

For its subscribers, CurlTV (www.curltv.com) is webcasting games from the afternoon and evening draws through Saturday, plus a game Friday morning from the men’s final round robin draw.

At the conclusion of the round robin, a cross-over Page Playoff system will occur, whereby the first place finishers in each group face each other, with the winner advancing to the final, the loser to the semi-final. The two second-place teams also meet, with the winner going to the semi-final while the loser is eliminated.

CBC-TV will televise the women’s final on Saturday, February 4 and the men’s final on Sunday, February 5, with both games beginning at 9:00 am PT/12 Noon ET.

© 2004-2006 Canadian Curling Association. All rights reserved.

SLAM! Sports - Curling - Tinker belle

Kleibrink’s second denies making sweeping change

By ANGELA MACISAAC – Calgary Sun

She’s doing what? With a little more than two weeks to go before the Shannon Kleibrink team opens play at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games, second Glenys Bakker is tinkering with her throw.

“I just made a minor, technical change to my delivery,” she said reassuringly last night before a team fundraiser at the Calgary Winter Club.

“It’s just to do with my lineup, how I come out of the hack. I know it sounds bizarre, two weeks before the Olympics.

“Why would I tinker with anything but Tiger Woods, I’m sure, is tinkering with his swing all the time. It’s something I was perturbed about and didn’t like how I was throwing.”

And if a little switch in the hips improves her shot by 5%, it’ll be worth it.

“Oh yeah, that’s huge,” said the 43-year-old mother of two. “I’m willing to make whatever changes I need to make to get better.”

She’ll have plenty of time to get used to the change next week.

On Monday, Bakker, Kleibrink, third Amy Nixon and lead Christine Keshen depart for Kamloops, B.C., where they’ll defend the Strauss Canada Cup title they won last March.

They’ll be up against Regina’s Jan Betker, who won gold with the late Sandra Schmirler at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, and Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones, the defending Scott Tournament of Hearts champ.

There also will be Kelowna’s Kelly Scott, whom Kleibrink defeated in the Olympic trials in Halifax to earn her trip to Turin, Italy.

“If we had to pick a field to play against before we go,” said Kleibrink, “this is it.

“We’re going to try to get our A game going but our approach has to be a little different this year. We have to do things as close as we can to what we’ll do at Olympics.”

That means regaining the focus the women don’t feel they had at a bonspiel in Bern, Switzerland, where they didn’t qualify for the playoff round. After a long flight from Calgary to Bern, they had less than a day’s rest before they jumped into the draw, which had them playing seven games over two days.

Nixon described the Canada Cup as good tuneup for the Olympics, which the foursome opens Feb. 13 against Sweden’s Anette Norberg.

“Canada Cup is a good opportunity for us to set down some routines again and use it a dress rehearal as a team to do things correctly, no matter what the outcome is,” said Nixon, 28.

Copyright © 2006, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.

The 2006 Strauss Canada Cup

January 31 - February 5, 2006
Sport Mart Place,
Kamloops, British Columbia
Web Site: http://www.canadacupofcurling.ca/

After 6 Draws .. Women’s Summary

Watch the Live Scoring and Schedule Results Here!

Team Kleibrink Results!

After 6 draws .. Team Canada (Team Kleibrink) is sitting at 1 win 2 losses, with 2 games to go .. here are the results of their games so far, up to draw 6 …

Draw 1 - Kleibrink 5 Comeau 6

Draw 3 - Kleibrink 7 Harvey 6

Draw 6 - Kleibrink 6 Betker 8

~~~~~~~~

Read more about the results to February 1, 2006 at the Curling Blog

CBC Sports: Gushue wins, loses at Canada Cup

Brad Gushue (left) throws skip rock but lets Russ Howard call the shots. (CP Photo/Andrew Vaughan)

WebPosted Wed, 01 Feb 2006 02:32:29 EST
CBC Sports

* RELATED: CBC Championship Curling

Gushue, from St. John’s, clubbed Kelowna’s Jim Cotter 8-3 in eight ends at the Interior Savings Centre in Kamloops, B.C., but later lost 7-5 to Bob Ursel of Kelowna.

Gushue, who throws skip rock but defers the shot-calling to former world champion Russ Howard at second, stole singles in the third, fourth and fifth ends before clinching the victory over Cotter with four points in the eighth.

But he struggled in the nightcap versus Ursel, who, earlier, lost 6-5 on a steal of one in the 10th to the defending champion Kevin Martin.

Martin, from Edmonton, is the lone unbeaten rink in Section B.

Glenn Howard of Coldwater, Ont., dispatched Edmonton’s Mark Johnson 9-4 in eight ends and Brad Heidt of Kerrobert, Sask., 5-3 to grab top spot in Section A at 2-0.

Randy Ferbey’s Edmonton rink eked out an 8-7 victory over Heidt.

John Morris, the two-time world junior champion who curls out of Calgary, disposed of Regina’s Glen Despins 5-3.

In women’s play, Edmonton’s Cathy King parlayed steals of two in both the fourth and eighth ends into a 9-7 win over reigning national champion Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg.

Jones later fell 7-6 to Renee Sonnenberg of Grande Prairie, a 13-7 loser to Jan Betker.

Betker, from Regina, scored five points in the second and four more in the eighth in sinking Sonnenberg to top Section B with Sandy Comeau of Moncton, who rallied for two in the ninth and one in the 10th in a 6-5 win over Shannon Kleibrink of Calgary.

Kleibrink, also headed to the Torino Olympic Winter Games, rebounded by scoring two in the 10th in a 7-6 win over Winnipegger Janet Harvey.

Both rinks sit at 1-1, same as Sonnenberg.

Kelowna’s Kelly Scott downed Heather Strong of St. John’s 5-2 and later scraped by King 8-6 in 11 ends to lead Section B with a 2-0 record.

The Page playoff system will be employed at the completion of the round robin, whereby first-place finishers face each other, with the winner moving directly to the final and the loser to the semifinal.

Those two rinks finishing second in their respective groups also meet, with the winner eliminating the loser and advancing to the semis.

CBC Sports will broadcast both championship matchups, with the women’s final played Saturday (12 p.m. ET) and the men’s final on Sunday (12 p.m. ET).

with files from CP Online