News Canadian Open

YORKTON, Sask. — Calgary’s Kevin Koe is the first to qualify for the Canadian Open playoffs after defeating Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher 7-3 Thursday afternoon.

The defending champion Koe moves onto Saturday’s quarterfinals with an unblemished 3-0 record through the triple knockout preliminary round. Bottcher (2-1) dropped into the B-event with two more chances to qualify.

Koe jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with a single in the first followed by back-to-back steals in the second and third. Bottcher took two in the fourth, but Koe replied nailing a double takeout for a deuce in the fifth to re-establish the three-point gap. and settled for one in six. The 2012 world junior champion Bottcher settled for a point in six and Koe added another deuce in seven to ice the game.

“We definitely played a more complete game today,” said Marc Kennedy, who throws third stones for Team Koe. “We were just horseshoe lucky yesterday so we took advantage of our opportunity today and it was a good game by everybody, especially our skipper. [Koe] played really well today.”

Wednesday was second Brent Laing’s 36th birthday and Kennedy joked that the wins were presents.

“It was the only reason we won those games because it was Brent’s birthday,” Kennedy said with a smile. “On the other hand we’ve played really well in some games we’ve lost so it’s a funny sport that way. Sometimes you win games you don’t deserve and you just have to go with the flow, take the wins when you get them and try to put together a good game.”

Brad Gushue (2-0) of St. John’s, N.L., reached the second A-event final scoring deuces in the fourth and sixth ends during a 6-3 win over Glenn Howard (1-1) of Penetanguishene, Ont. Gushue will now face Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen in a rematch of last month’s Masters final. Gushue topped McEwen 8-6 to win his second career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title.

In B bracket action, Reid Carruthers (1-1) hit and stuck around in the extra end to win 6-5 over his former skip Jeff Stoughton during an all-Winnipeg matchup. Carruthers led by three points in the eighth, but Stoughton (0-2) held the hammer and scored the equalizer to require one more stanza.

Toronto’s John Epping rallied to defeat Calgary’s John Morris 8-4 and stay in the B bracket. Epping (2-1) trailed 4-1 after giving up a steal of two in the fourth but bounced back with a deuce in five followed by steals of one in six, three in seven and another point in the eighth. Morris (1-2) dropped into the C-event and on the brink of elimination.

Jim Cotter of Vernon, B.C., broke a tie with a five-ender in the sixth to defeat Switzerland’s Sven Michel 8-3. Cotter improved to a 1-1 record while Michel slipped to 0-2 and into the C-event brackets.