Koe steals crucial win from Jacobs at Masters
SELKIRK, Man. — Calgary’s Kevin Koe scored one point in the seventh and stole three in the final end to squeak out an 8-5 win over Olympic champion Brad Jacobs, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., during Draw 9 action at the Masters.
Koe improved to a 2-1 record in the first Grand Slam of Curling tournament of the season while Jacobs fell to 0-2 and on the brink of elimination.
“It’s nice to sneak out a steal and we were both so short on time it was hard to be really precise and talk about shots when you’re that close to time,” said Team Koe third Marc Kennedy. “I thought we hung in there good. We got a couple bad breaks and it was a good battle, a great game for TV and both teams played pretty well.”
It was a back-and-forth clash between the teams as they traded deuces to start in the first and second. Jacobs stole a point in the fourth to go up 3-2 and the teams exchanged pairs of points again in five and six.
Elsewhere, Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen (3-0) remained undefeated with a 6-3 win in seven ends over Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz. McEwen broke a 3-3 tie with a point in the fifth and earned back-to-back single steals in the sixth and seventh ends.
Team McEwen entered the Masters winning four titles in four tournaments and hold an overall win-loss record on the season of 31-1. McEwen went 2-for-2 Thursday edging De Cruz’s compatriot Sven Michel 4-3 with an impressive takeout to score two during the early afternoon draw.
“I don’t know what it is about Swiss teams but they seem to play really well against us,” McEwen said with a laugh. “They give us all sorts of fits.”
Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont., pulled away with a deuce in the third followed by consecutive single steals in the fourth and fifth ends during a 7-3 win in seven ends over Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton. Howard improved to a 2-1 record while Stoughton dropped to 1-2.
Sweden’s Niklas Edin (2-1) scored the winning single in the final end to clip Jim Cotter of Vernon, B.C., 6-5. Cotter has been eliminated from contention with an 0-3 record.
In the women’s division, Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson (2-1) scored deuces in the first, third and seventh ends during a 7-3 win over Scotland’s Eve Muirhead (0-3).
