Martin to cap career in Players’ Championship final
SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — Edmonton’s Kevin Martin will finish his career with an opportunity to win a record-extending 18th Grand Slam of Curling title at the Players’ Championship.
Martin, who announced Friday he will retire after the season-ending event, squeezed his final rock of the extra end through a pair of guards and onto the button for the winning single to edge Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen 6-5 during Saturday’s semifinals.
The final will be a battle between the past two Olympic gold medallists as Martin, the 2010 champion, will face Sochi Winter Games winner Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Jacobs scored three in the sixth end to beat Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., 6-4 and secure his spot in the final.
“It would mean a lot to win this, to end the season winning the tournament,” said Jacobs, who is aiming for his first Grand Slam title. “We’ve had a really good year and I can’t think of a better way finishing it than to win the last event and the last game of the year. We’re going to go out there and give it all we’ve got and see what happens.”
Martin is expecting it’ll be a battle but is hopeful it’ll work right for him.
“When you get down to the final game at the Slam, teams are dead even,” he said. “You get a little lucky break here or there or a big shot here or there and away you go.”
In the women’s division, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan and Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones both needed extra ends to punch their tickets to the final. Homan beat Silvana Tirinzoni 4-3 and Jones clipped Margaretha Sigfridsson 8-7 in a repeat of the Sochi Olympics gold-medal game.
As Masters champion, Homan has a chance to earn a $100,000 bonus if she can capture the Players’ Championship to sweep the two Grand Slam of Curling women’s titles.
