News National

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene drove his last stone of the eighth end straight to the button to score the winning single in a 5-4 victory over hometown hero Brad Jacobs during their all-Ontario matchup Thursday night in Draw 5 action of the National.

Howard is off to a fine start in his title defence at the Grand Slam of Curling tournament holding a 3-0 record.

It was an intense day for Howard, who completed a late comeback in the early afternoon to defeat Mark Kean of Stoney Creek, Ont., 6-5 thanks to a deuce in seven followed by a double steal in eight. 

“The game this afternoon we got super lucky,” said Howard, who captured his 14th Grand Slam title as a skip at the National last season in Fort McMurray, Alta. “I personally played awful and we got really fortunate with Mark Kean missing his last rock. I finally made a good hit and roll with my last shot, Mark missed it and we stole two and that was it.

“We came out and played a lot better against Brad, as you know you have to, but it’s big. To get to three wins in a hurry makes me feel pretty good.”

Howard scored deuces in two and five while limiting his Jacobs to singles in one and three to lead 4-2. The reigning Olympic gold medallist Jacobs had his fans roaring as he grabbed another point in six and stole one in seven to tie it up.

Elsewhere, Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers capped a three-win Thursday to also remain undefeated scoring two in the sixth and stealing one in the seventh during a 5-2 win over Calgary’s Kevin Koe (1-2). Carruthers looked to be trouble to start the event when third Braeden Moskowy was stuck in airport limbo due to snowy weather and missed the team’s first two games of the day. Grand Slam MC Peter Steski stepped into the lineup playing lead, bumping Derek Samagalski up to third and Colin Hodgson to second, and helped them earn a 6-1 win over Rob Rumfeldt of Guelph, Ont., and a 9-3 win over Peter de Cruz of Switzerland.

“It was an interesting day, to say the least,” Carruthers said. “Having Braeden not able to show up until our evening game was a little bit interesting but Pete played amazing. We’re very fortunate he was able to play for us. We found him some shoes and he honestly just got them out of a box and put them on and he played really, really well. To win the evening game was really good and to get to 3-0. Any other wins we can get from here on out is gravy for the playoffs.”

Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher also moved up to a 3-0 record with a 7-5 victory over De Cruz (0-3). Bottcher scored three in the fourth but de Cruz responded right back with a three-ender of his own in the fifth that tied it 4-4. Bottcher added a deuce in the sixth and held on from there.

Calgary’s John Morris (1-2) stole one in the seventh and three in the eighth to earn a 7-3 victory over Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen (2-1) and Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton (2-1) grabbed a single in the final end to win 7-6 over Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock (1-2).

Round-robin play continues Friday with four draws on tap with the top eight teams overall qualify for Saturday’s quarterfinals. The semifinals are also set for Saturday with the final scheduled Sunday.