Stoughton brushed aside by old nemesis Martin in Vernon final

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This article was published 20/12/2010 (5702 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VERNON, B.C. — Kevin Martin ended his 2010 curing season in a fitting fashion — with a win.

Martin and his team from Edmonton won the Swiss Chalet National on Sunday, defeating Jeff Stoughton and his Winnipeg rink 5-3 in the final. Martin, the 2010 Olympic gold medallist, now has a record 16 Capital One Grand Slam of Curling titles to his name.

“I’m ready for a break… 2010 was just an amazing year for our team, and to finish it off like that, it’s a dream,” Martin told reporters after the win.

The final was an uneven match featuring throwing mistakes by both skips, but it was Martin’s front end of Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert who saved the day for their team with their sweeping. Widely regarded as the best sweeping tandem in the game, the duo dragged their skip’s stones to where they needed to be.

“I don’t know how anyone can win a Slam throwing it that bad,” said Jon Mead, Stoughton’s third. “It’s all brushing, it really is.”

The loss was the second in a Grand Slam final for Stoughton this year. He lost to Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen at the World Cup of Curling in Windsor, Ont., last month.

Stoughton blanked the first two ends, but Martin held him to single in the third. A deuce by Martin in the fourth — in large part thanks to Kennedy and Hebert — turned the tide in favour of the Edmonton rink. A steal in the fifth gave Martin control.

Martin’s rink won $24,000, boosting their earnings on the Asham World Curling Tour to $85,000. Stoughton won $17,000.

— Postmedia News