Win-win for Winnipeg

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This article was published 18/12/2011 (5271 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Up four with three ends to play, Jeff Stoughton looked to have a berth in the final of the BDO Canadian Open in the bag.

He still got there — holding on for an 8-6 win over Glenn Howard on Saturday night in Kingston, Ont. — but it was hardly automatic.

A combination of three misses by Stoughton’s third, Jon Mead, over the final three ends, the new five-rock free guard zone rule and an experienced opponent forced Stoughton to have to make a double takeout with his final stone in the eighth to preserve the semifinal victory at the second leg of the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling.

“It’s just one of those games where you know you’re probably going to have to make your last shot to win,” Stoughton told CBC. “We’re fortunate to have (made) it.”

It will be an all-Winnipeg final as Stoughton will face crosstown rival Mike McEwen today. McEwen went a perfect 5-0 in the round robin and kept his streak alive in the playoffs.

The defending champion needed a measurement on his final stone in the eighth to pull out a 6-5 win over Jean-Michel Menard of Gatineau, Que., in the quarter-finals, but had no such worries in the semis, dispatching Niklas Edin of Sweden 8-2 in six ends.

Stoughton got off to an excellent start against Howard with four in the first end, but was never able to put the three-time world champion away until the very end.

Howard, of Coldwater, Ont., had his first chance to draw even in the fourth when he just missed a double-raise takeout which would have been for three. Instead he settled for one and a 5-3 deficit heading into the break.

Stoughton again looked to put the game in the books with a deuce in the fifth, but Howard began his furious comeback with three in the sixth. After holding Stoughton to a single in seven, Howard was down two with the hammer coming home.

Howard had control of the final end and appeared to be in position to at least force an extra end, if not win the game outright, but Stoughton came through with the perfect double with his final shot to lie two and leave Howard with absolutely no shot for his deuce.

Howard’s comeback attempt was aided by the five-rock rule, which kept more stones in play. The experimental rule — teams can’t remove a guard until the sixth rock of an end — is being tried out this weekend and has changed up the strategy.

Stoughton’s unsure if he likes it.

“It’s up for debate right now,” he told CBC. “I think it’s great because teams have a chance to come back, but I think it’s bad because teams have a chance to come back.

“I think we’re all new to it, so it’s our first attempt at it. I think if we play it more next year, with some other events maybe, I think everyone will a little bit get more comfortable with it.”

Stoughton reached the semis after beating 2010 Olympic champion Kevin Martin of Edmonton 5-2 in the quarters.

— Postmedia News