Single continent overpowers World

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Team North America skip Cheryl Bernard looks down the ice during her 42-13 victory over Team World in her skins game Sunday. (MICHAEL BURNS PHOTO)

ST. ALBERT, Alta. -- Kevin Martin walked out of Servus Credit Union Place on Sunday night with a $13,000 bonus cheque in one hand and a Continental Cup of Curling points record in the other after defeating Thomas Ulsrud 39-16 in the final event of the international competition.

In a rematch of the 2010 Olympic Games gold-medal final, Martin stole a skin worth 35 points in the seventh end to cap a victorious week for Team North America, which captured the overall competition 298-102 over Ulsrud's Team World.

Martin's steal shattered the previous mark of 290 points established by North America in 2007 at Medicine Hat.

"We were just trying to get to 31 (points), or whatever the magic number was," Martin said of the record. "I don't worry about that too much. In the end, Ulsrud had a pretty makeable shot to beat us. He just fired it on release and it didn't come back."

Ulsrud's attempted double to score two in the seventh created a jam and left a Martin counter on the button for the steal. Ulsrud was sure he made the shot as he turned toward the World bench and shouted, "Show me the money."

"That might have been premature, in retrospect, hey?" Martin said with a chuckle. "Thomas is a character. He would make that shot more than he misses it."

The miss summed up the week for Team World.

"I was a touch tight on the broom and put it back. Halfway, I was sure I had it. Felt kind of stupid when I turned to the bench and called out, 'Show me the money.' Whoops, he jammed it," Ulsrud said with a laugh. "It caps off the week for Team World. It was close but on the wrong side of the inch."

North America clinched the Continental Cup, and the $52,000 in team prize money, on Saturday night with a thrilling finish in which steals by a trio of its teams secured a 217-73 advantage.

The onslaught continued throughout the week and culminated with last-end steals by Jennifer Jones, Kevin Koe and John Morris in skins play late Saturday night. Jones stole a 22-point skin to defeat Mirjam Ott of Switzerland 22-8. Koe swiped a nine-point skin to down Sweden's Niklas Edin 21-9 and clinch the overall title. Morris actually drew the button in an extra end to defeat Scotland's David Murdoch 19-11 in a mixed team skins matchup.

"It was some tough last minutes for us," said World coach Peja Lindholm. "It was devastating for us. They were a lot better than us, we just have to accept that. We just didn't perform as well as I know we can. When we are on the top level of our games, we play really well, but there were too many errors here. Our goal was to keep the Cup alive until the last game (Sunday), but we couldn't do that so it is tough."

Lindholm and team captain Pal Trulsen had some fun with it on Sunday, waving white flags in surrender in the fifth end of the final men's game. Ulsrud's rink tried to lighten the mood, as well, marching out in the outrageous Loudmouth Pants they usually wear. But tournament officials forced them to change into the proper uniform, much to the dismay of the crowd.

"We thought it was going to be a fun thing. The Cup was already lost. It was just this last game. Their argument was all the players have to look the same out there. At least the crowd liked it," said Ulsrud.

Lindholm and Trulsen later exchanged team jackets with the North American coaches and, when Martin called a time out in the fifth end, it was Lindholm who came out to consult with him about what shot to play.

-- Postmedia News

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 17, 2011 C5