Martin, Kleibrink win Canada Cup

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/03/2009 (6267 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON’S Kevin Martin continued his reign over Canadian men’s curling Sunday in Yorkton, Sask.

Martin beat Randy Ferbey, also of Edmonton, 8-5 on Sunday to win the men’s division at the Canada Cup of Curling. The victory marked the second straight Sunday that Martin, John Morris, Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert had prevailed in a significant Canadian curling event.

On March 15, Martin beat Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton 10-4 to cap a 13-0 run at the Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary and win a second consecutive Canadian men’s championship without a loss.

Earlier Sunday, Calgary’s Shannon Kleibrink beat Marie-France Larouche of St. Romauld, Que., 6-4 in the women’s final.

Martin was challenged by Ferbey, who was bidding for a fourth Canada Cup men’s championship. Two misses by Martin in the third end allowed Ferbey to score four and grab a 4-1 lead.

Martin then outscored Ferbey 7-1 over the remainder of the game, including two in the seventh end and a steal of two in the eighth.

Martin earned $25,000 and another $3,200 for each round-robin win. Ferbey won $15,000 and $3,200 for his four round-robin wins.

Ferbey advanced to the final with a 6-2 win over Martin in the 1 vs. 1 Page Playoff game Saturday. Martin bounced back on Saturday night with an 8-3 semifinal win over Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton, who was the runner-up to Martin the Brier final.

“We’ve had almost an identical year to 2005,” Kleibrink said Sunday from Yorkton. “We started strong, had a dip in the middle and then we won the Canada Cup. I think that we’re on track.”

There are a number of ways of locking down in a berth in the full trials.

Kleibrink clinched her spot for the 2010 Trials based on her cumulative points total on the Canadian Team Ranking System during the past three years. The fact she had the berth wrapped up played a role in the team’s success this weekend.

“It made it easier on us because we had spent the last half of the year watching what the other teams who were close to us were doing,” said Kleibrink, who is backed by Amy Nixon, Bronwen Webster and Chelsey Bell.

“This is the first event that we could concentrate on what we needed to do.”

Kleibrink beat Larouche 6-4 in Saturday’s 1 vs. 1 Page Playoff game to advance to the final. Larouche defeated Calgary’s Cheryl Bernard 7-6 in 11 ends in Saturday’s semifinal.

Bernard beat Regina’s Michelle Englot 8-5 in Saturday’s 2 vs. 2. Page playoff game.

— Canwest News Service