Koe, Gushue wrap up Masters round robin play undefeated
TRURO, N.S. — Calgary’s Kevin Koe and Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., finished pool play in the Masters at the top of the table with unblemished 4-0 records.
Koe stole a point in the eighth end for a 5-4 victory over Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen and Gushue scored a deuce in the seventh and stole two in the eighth to beat David Murdoch of Scotland 7-3 during Draw 12 Friday afternoon.
The Tour Challenge Tier 1 winner Koe is set to face reigning world champion Niklas Edin of Sweden in the quarterfinals Saturday afternoon. The defending Masters champion Gushue secured the No. 1 seed based on draw-to-the-button totals and awaits the winner of a tiebreaker between Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock and Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont.
McEwen, who was heavy on the draw with his last shot, finished pool play with a 3-1 record and meets Reid Carruthers (3-1) in an all-Winnipeg quarterfinal match-up. Murdoch missed the playoffs with a 1-3 record.
Laycock bounced back to finish the round-robin at 2-2 and stay in the mix with a 7-1 victory in six ends over Calgary’s Pat Simmons, who was eliminated at 1-3. Howard (2-2) scored four points in the seventh end to win 8-4 over Toronto’s John Epping (1-3).
Elsewhere, reigning Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., scored three in the seventh to win 6-3 over Jim Cotter of Vernon, B.C. Both teams move on with 3-1 records and will face off again in Saturday’s quarterfinals. Team Cotter won the Tour Challenge Tier 2 in September to earn a berth into the Masters.
The Masters is the first major and second stop of the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule and runs through to Sunday at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre.
