News Canadian Open

MEDICINE HAT, Alta. — Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton improved to a 2-0 round-robin record in the Canadian Open with a 6-5 win Thursday afternoon over Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L.

Gushue (1-1) tied it up with a three-ender in the sixth, but the four-time Grand Slam champion Stoughton blanked the seventh to retain the hammer coming home and blasted his opponent’s shot rock out of the house with his final stone to earn the game-winning single.

Calgary’s Kevin Koe and Rob Rumfeldt of Guelph, Ont., also moved up to 2-0 records during Draw 3 action. Koe doubled up on Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher 8-4 in and Rumfeldt took two in the third and stole four in the fourth during a 9-4 win over Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud. Both Bottcher and Ulsrud dropped to 0-2.

Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont., avenged an opening draw loss to Oskar Eriksson with a 5-1 win over reigning world champion Niklas Edin of Sweden. Eriksson, who also serves as the alternate for Edin (0-2), upset Howard with a 5-4 victory Wednesday night.

After back-to-back blanks to start, Howard (1-1) settled for a single in the third but managed to take a 3-0 lead into the break when Edin’s final stone of the fourth picked and stopped short of the house to give up a steal of two. Howard stole another point in five and the teams alternated singles in six and seven.

Toronto’s John Epping scored three in the final end to give his team its first win of the tournament with a 10-7 victory over John Morris of Vernon, B.C. Both teams are at 1-1.